As part of its longstanding commitment to providing employees with 40 paid service hours every year, Timberland sent 50 volunteers to help the Chase Home for Children renovate and beautify its Portsmouth facility in September.
Similar to its efforts at Chase Home last year, Timberland volunteers spearheaded a number of projects, such as painting bedrooms and activity rooms, landscaping part of the 26-acre property, and putting together shelving and other donated furniture. With many donning shirts commemorating Timberland’s Paths to Service program, helpers also managed to move more than a century’s worth of Chase Home records and files from the basement to a cleaner, drier location on the third floor.
“We wouldn’t be able to do our job right to completely support the kids in a really clean, put-together facility if it weren’t for the efforts of folks like Timberland,” said Meme Wheeler, Chase Home’s Executive Director. “Seeing the facility improved in real time helps instill pride in our kids. This is where they live–and it takes a village to keep it working well and feeling like home.”
“We’ve been looking forward to a new archive room in particular for quite a long time,” she added.
For Jason Blades, community service manager for Timberland, aiding an organization like Chase Home typifies their Paths to Service initiative, now 25 years in the making.
“We always encourage employees to use their volunteer hours by getting involved where they work, live, and play,” he said. “We look at our employees’ time as our most valuable resource, so having them help an institution like Chase Home, which always works so hard to meet pressing needs in that same community, is something we’re proud to promote.”
Founded in 1952, Timberland has since become one of world’s most recognizable outdoor-apparel brands. Headquartered in Stratham, the company is renowned for its environmental stewardship and community outreach initiatives. To learn more, visit timberland.com.
Founded in 1877, Chase Home for Children is dedicated to providing supportive and restorative residential and family service to at-risk youth in a safe and nurturing environment. To learn more, visit www.chasehome.org.
# # #
PHOTO CAPTIONS
1. Employees from Timberland stand outside the Chase Home for Children in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, during a September 19 volunteering trip.
2. Volunteers from Timberland put the finishing touches on a paint job, part of volunteering efforts conducted by the company at Portsmouth’s chase Home for Children on September 19.
3. Timberland volunteers help beautify an outdoor garden on the grounds of Portsmouth’s Chase Home for Children during a recent volunteering trip