Employee Volunteerism

We believe volunteering is a great way for employees to develop leadership skills, connect to their communities, and feel better about themselves and their work. Since 1993, we have provided paid time off for employees who want to volunteer for nonprofits in their communities.

CAFE Program
Through our Community Action for Employees (CAFE) Program, employees can spend up to 52 hours per year — 2.5% of scheduled work hours — volunteering in the communities during normal work hours. In FY ’08, 439 employees — over 42% of all full-time employees — donated over 5,700 hours of volunteer time in their local communities. This was a record year for the CAFE Program: Employees exceeded our goal by 38% and contributed over $140,000 worth of their time and talent.

In August of FY ’08, we had our 4th National River Clean Up™ event. Ninety-two employees participated and put in 460 hours of volunteer time. This year, due to a rainy summer season, we were not able to continue our work of prior years on the local Winooski River. Instead, we worked on cleaning up a flood damaged area in Hancock, VT. For a full day, a team of 20 employees cleaned up four Hancock residences and a town cemetery. We also spent several days cleaning up the flood damage at the Waterbury Reservoir. The rest of the week we worked at the Little River State Park, cleaning, painting, and stacking wood.


Dollars-For-Doers
We expanded our support of employee volunteerism this year by launching Dollars-For-Doers, a program that provides matching grants for employees who volunteer their time outside of work. Through Dollars-For-Doers, any employee who donates at least 25 hours of their time to a nonprofit during the fiscal year may apply to have the company make a $250 matching grant to the organization. In our inaugural year, 20 employees participated, donating 500 hours of their time and generating $5,000 in grants.