TORONTO — Trafalgar has been rolling up its sleeves and doing plenty of good throughout the year in preparation for today’s International Volunteer Day (IVD), with CEO Gavin Tollman empowering his global workforce to support causes close to their hearts.

The company offers all of its employees two paid days off a year to participate in volunteer efforts, a decision that according to Tollman, aligns with its ‘JoinTrafalgar’ sustainability initiatives – to better the lives of locals and their communities, now and into the future.

“Companies with legitimate corporate social responsibility must have an ethos that runs deep, form the very core of their business. It is about empowering your own people to make a difference, in whatever form that takes,” said Tollman.

Mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985 to encourage, support and recognize volunteer contributions, IVD 2018 celebrates volunteer efforts that strengthen local ownership and the resilience of communities in the face of natural disasters, economic stresses and political shocks.

This week, Trafalgar’s global teams will commemorate IVD in more than 10 countries by planting trees, taking part in beach cleanups, animal welfare support and charity fundraising.

Added Tollman, “Companies should be flexible with team members around supporting individual causes that are close to their hearts and allowing them to choose how they want to give back.”

Here’s a rundown of Trafalgar’s efforts around the world:

• In the United States, employees will be sorting and packaging thousands of pounds of food to support the work of Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County,­ Nearly 10% of all residents in this County are at risk of hunger each month, and this service provides over 21.6 million meals to Orange County’s hungry annually.
• In Canada, Trafalgar’s team will be wrapping presents for Holiday Helpers Canada, bringing festive cheer to more than 600 low-income families this holiday season.
• In Singapore, more than 5,000 elderly residents of Blossom Seeds will enjoy a sparkling clean facility thanks to the Trafalgar team.
• In New Zealand, the team will be working alongside the brand’s longstanding sustainability partner Sustainable Coastlines, spending the day planting hundreds of native trees and collecting litter at one of the country’s fragile beaches.
• In Geneva, Trafalgar’s worldwide headquarters, team members will be giving blood, supporting animal welfare, wrapping presents for the Red Cross and raising money for London’s Battersea animal shelter by taking part in the local Escalade Run.
• In the UK, the team will learn to save a life by becoming CPR certified and canvass for St John’s Ambulance, which teaches and provides first aid and emergency medicine.
• In South Africa, team Trafalgar will be serving meals at a local soup kitchen in The Bryanston Methodist Church Soup Kitchen, participating in beach cleanups and volunteering at an abandoned animal haven.
• In Australia, Trafalgar will lend hands to the Magic Moments Basket Brigade, supplying gifts and food to people in need, and supplying much needed dog food and animal supplies to drought-affected farmers in rural New South Wales.

Through its ‘JoinTrafalgar’ program, powered by TreadRight (TTC’s 10-year-old not-for-profit foundation), Trafalgar’s social sustainability efforts extend far beyond the 24,000 hours of volunteering given to employees. The company has banned more than 60 single-use plastics from their offices and planted 120 acres of trees in Northern California and Tanzania in the last year.

Watch the ‘JoinTrafalgar’ video to learn more about the company’s ongoing sustainability efforts: