Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. hosted its third annual Global Week of Volunteering in 30 locations around the world the week of May 30 through June 5.
During the week, Goodyear teams performed hands-on volunteer activities which included revitalizing a part of the Kokra River Canyon with the Center for Sustainable Development in Kranj, Slovenia; hosting a bicycle safety event at a primary school in Debica, Poland; teaching high school students decision-making skills and personal finance management with the Boys & Girls Club in Carson, California; and working with 17 local organizations in the Akron, Ohio area, including designing and building a STEM-themed escape room for Akron students and preparing LeBron James’s I Promise School for next year’s students.
About 10 Goodyear employees from the company’s commercial tire division spent four hours cleaning, weeding, moving furniture and painting at the I Promise School the morning of June 4.
“Our goal is to build a better future in our community. That’s really what drives us,” said Joni Fitch, Goodyear’s engagement manager, who was onsite with the volunteers. “It continues to be a catalyst for us to engage more of our associates into the community. Our associates are capable of doing so much in this community, as long as they just open that door to volunteering.”
Fitch said the Global Week of Volunteering started in 2016 as a way for Goodyear to connect with its nonprofit community partners.
“Now, three years later, there are a lot of times where our community partners rely on us to come out year after year,” Fitch said. “We install smoke alarms with the Red Cross, we do the landscaping [for the I Promise School] every year which cuts their costs. We volunteer with Junior Achievement.”
Fitch said Goodyear also offers professional development workshops for more than 400 Akron-area non-profit workers during the week.
Julia Romito, Goodyear communications specialist, said the company’s goal this year is to surpass more than 15,000 volunteer hours during the week, a number Goodyear hit last year.