DEPT® Cares Day is back! Every year, Depsters all over the world join in to spend a few hours of their workday giving back to their local communities. Whatever way they choose to give back– whether that’s farming veggies for low income families in Boston, cleaning up the coastline in Ireland, or giving an engineering tutorial to refugees in Amsterdam – Depsters come together as #oneDEPT® to make a difference.
The global initiative started by a few Depsters as a weekend activity and has since grown into an annual event backed by DEPT® to take their passion and dedication to a bigger scale.
Regardless of where you live, caring for your community is universally valuable. And, with so much happening in the world, it’s maybe more important than ever. That said, let’s come together to do some good!
Take a peek at what your home city is planning and set aside a few hours of your day to join your coworkers for DEPT® Cares Day on Friday, October 28th!
DEPT® Cares
What’s happening near you
VIRTUAL | Can’t meet in person? Remotely based? You can make a huge impact from the comfort of your desk by volunteering remotely. Take a look at this list of volunteer opportunities, select one that speaks most to you and don’t forget to let us know that you’re taking some time out of your Friday to make a difference from your living room!
Amsterdam & Rotterdam
Come join your fellow Amsterdam & Rotterdam Depsters as we bring some fun & games to lonely senior citizens. Many of these folks have dementia and/or other physical disabilities and will much appreciate some holiday joy. We’ll spend a few hours doing some Halloween themed arts & crafts and sharing some snacks and drinks!
Contact Persons: Lea Grissmer, Bente Poortsma, Merel de Vries, Lausanne Bos, Leanne Huiberts, Maaike de Boer and David Brummer
BAY AREA & San Francisco
Depsters in San Francisco and the Bay Area can choose between volunteering with our local Salvation Army or the non-profit Grassroots Ecology! Folks working with the Salvation Army will sort through clothing donations and put them on display in the Clothing Room, a free store for people in need. Volunteers with Grassroots ecology will get their hands dirty to clean up local ecosystems, collecting litter and pulling up invasive plants to foster growth for native species.
Contact Persons: Juanita Pintane & Noelle Newbold
Berlin
We’ll be helping folks in the Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain neighborhood clean up their community garden. The garden was created by refugees and elderly people to create a shared space that could be enjoyed by many, including daycare centres, school groups, and long term care residences. Our work will help bring this happy vision to life!
Contact Person: Britta Clausen, Jan Kout
BERN / ZURICH
Who likes rabbits? Or, rather, who doesn’t! We’re volunteering at Malmel, a rabbit rescue and sanctuary in Aargau! Join in to lend a hand and clean hutches, feed & groom these adorable animals, and give the sanctuary’s newest arrivals some socialisation & playtime. Our help will keep the Malmel rabbits happy & healthy before they find their forever homes.
Contact Person: Iva Cerar
Boston
The Boston crew will be partnering with Groundwork Somerville, in the local Somerville community to clean their vegetable gardens and getting them ready for the winter. Looking forward to all the helping hands!
Contact Person: Brett Whitehead, Calla Carignan
bUENOS AIRES/mAR DEL PLATA
The Argentina office will be collecting food, clothing, and cleaning products for two community kitchens in the cities of Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata. Don’t miss out!
Contact Persons: Josefina Blattmann / Sabrina Lascombes
charlottesville
We’re partnering with Computers4Kids (CK4), a non-profit dedicated to mentoring students with aspirations in STEAM – that’s science, tech, engineering, art, and math for anyone wondering! As volunteers, we’ll assemble some awesome STEAM kits for the students and handwriting notes for CK4’s annual appeal.
Contact Persons: Stephanie Murray, Alexandra Kwiatkoski
CHICAGO
Depsters in Chicago will be helping volunteer at the Susan G. Komen 2022 Chicago Race for the Cure, a 5K road race raising money for breast cancer awareness and research! We’ll be helping set up, assemble race bags, and provide general support where needed for the runners and race organisers!
Contact Persons: Megan Savoy
Cologne
Help improve the city of Cologne in an unexpected way… building houses for bees! As pollinators, bees help bring more life & more green to urban areas. Not to mention, the hotels help raise awareness about declining bee populations and engage the community.
Contact Persons: Giacomo Orseolo Ferro, Tobias Lazar
COPENHAGEN
The team in Copenhagen will be collecting stationary donations from all Copenhagen Depsters to resell in a stationary fleamarket and give the proceeds to a local organisation, BØRNEHJÆLPSDAGEN. They are also organising a small workshop with a local non-profit organisation called Grønt Marked, to advise them on building a new website.
Contact persons: Laura Olivia Graven-Lauritzen, Ulla Wendel, Pauline Theunissen, Clara Luccarini
DEnver
We will be providing decorating and organizational support to the Denver Bronco’s annual trick or treat event. We will also be working with Food for Thought Denver, a local volunteer led organization striving to eliminate weekend hunger, to fill PowerSacks. PowerSacks are bags of non-perishable food items to feed a family of four for the weekend. Essentially, we will be a human assembly align packing these very bags!
Contact persons: Elaine Shulman
DUBLIN
This year for DEPT® Cares Day, the Dublin office will work with Stepping Stone Forests to prepare soil so school children can plant trees. We will also be doing a virtual event to raise money for the CDPA (Cat & Dog Protection Association of Ireland) and will have a drop off point for the homeless in our office so we can donate food, clothes and toiletries.
Contact persons: Niamh McConville / Julie perez / Rehan Rana
Hamburg
Come help spread warmth this winter! The Hamburg office will collect & donate winter wear and hygienic products to Hanseatic Help, a non-profit that works hard to make it easy to help folks in need. We’ll also design flyers to be posted around Hamburg with information about how to take advantage of important public resources like shelters, food banks, and medical facilities for anyone who might need them.
Contact persons: Tobias Goldbach, Jennifer Henke, Nergis Amin
MANCHESTER
Jump in with your fellow Depsters in Manchester and plant bulbs, build bug hotels, and transform city murals for Sow the City’s parks improvement project! Can’t make it? We’re also collecting and donating non-perishable foods to support the Manchester Central Foodbank.
Contact Persons: Val Lalonde, Hannah Boozer
Newburyport
We’ll be jumping in with the team at Community Giving Tree to pack & organise donations of clothes, toys, toiletries, and more for low-income families in our area. Too busy to volunteer or working remotely? No worries — we’ll be hosting our own drive to collect new or gently used donations as well!
Contact Persons: Imogene Robinson
New york
New York Depsters will come together to get outside and help the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge collect data and clean up one of their protected beaches. The project will be done in partnership with The American Littoral Society, a group of coastline protectors that empower communities to do the same!
Contact Persons: Sarah Dedewo, Alexadra Otero, Charity Cast
san diego
Help us help PATH beautify new living spaces for houseless folks and families in the community by creating some one-of-a-kind decor! PATH is a terrific non-profit that builds affordable housing all over California, with this project we’ll be helping turn these houses into homes. We’ll also collect and assemble some hygiene kits for PATH to give out as well!
Contact Persons: AhnaMia Maranon & Lauren Blackburn
skopje
Join the DEPT® Skopje office to help houseless folks and families in the city! We’ll work together to prepare & deliver some tasty meals as well as collect, sort, and pack clothing donations. Warm clothes especially will be appreciated during the chilly months ahead!
Contact Person: Marija Stefanovska, Katerina Maljceva
SPLIT
In Split we are organizing a workshop and a lecture in an institution for children with criminal records. Let’s spread some educational fun! The activity will be accompanied by a laptop/computer donation for the dormitory.
Contact Person: Branka Lončarić
ZAGREB
We are hosting a workshop and programming lecture including breakout sessions for highschool kids. The school is for kids who are on the spectrum and experience learning difficulties. Additionally, we are providing pizza and soft drinks for the day and will be donating learning materials for the school.
Contact Person: Branka Lončarić
Virtual
Can’t meet in person? Remotely based? You can make a huge impact from the comfort of your desk by volunteering remotely. Take a look at this list of volunteer opportunities, select one that speaks most to you and don’t forget to let us know that you’re taking some time out of your Friday to make a difference from your living room!
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