As a pioneering force in corporate citizenship and community service, Timberland has made positive impacts on thousands of communities around the world – from its home in Stratham, New Hampshire to the Horqin desert of China.  Today marks a historic event for the brand, with Timberland employees around the world celebrating the one millionth volunteer hour served.

Starting on Earth Day in April and for the past several weeks, Timberland employees around the world have engaged in service projects in their local communities.  In line with its longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship and community building, Timberland has commemorated Earth Day in this way over the past 16 years. This year, the brand has hosted Earth Day events in more than 100 locations worldwide, with some 30,000 hours of service performed by 5,000+ volunteers in April and May.

In Malaysia, Timberland staff took part in the RIMBA Project, overseen by UMCARES (the University of Malaya’s environmental secretariat), with the goal of maintaining equilibrium between the biodiversity found on the campus. Through the Path of Service Program, Timberland staff along with several volunteers monitored water quality along the Rimba Ilmu stream with UMCARE’s Water Warriors, a group dedicated to the revival and rehabilitation of water bodies in UM. Besides that, the team also harvested trees for future replanting efforts.

Timberland’s commitment to corporate responsibility is rooted in community service; this milestone has been in the making since the brand launched its Path of Service™ program in 1992.  The Path of Service™ program was conceived to infuse volunteerism into Timberland’s DNA and culture; and as a result, community service has become a way of life for Timberland employees around the world.  As part of this program, each Timberland employee is given up to 40 paid hours per year to dedicate to service, during which they create positive and sustainable impacts in their communities.

What does one million community service hours look like?  Timberland volunteers have initiated nearly 4,000 service projects in 32 countries since 2010, when project-specific metrics started being tracked (imagine what that number looks like since 1992!). Timberland has also planted more than 5 million trees worldwide since the year 2000; framed and delivered 14 Habitat for Humanity houses for communities ravaged by natural disasters; and built six water towers in India, Vietnam and the Dominican Republic, providing much-needed clean drinking water to thousands of local workers and community members. To date, we have already planted more than 1.65 million trees in the Horqin desert in China’s Inner Mongolia since 2001, and by 2015, we are expecting to achieve a milestone of 2 million trees!

For more information, visit Timberland’s website.

About Author JQ Lee talks and writes for a living. That's because she loves sharing interesting things to the world. With a Degree in Communication and Media Management, this petite Gen-Y will not stop chasing her passion in writing and broadcasting. She dreams to host a travel show and be a radio announcer someday, hopefully soon. Stalk this wacky fair Asian girl at www.jqtalks.com, Instagram and Twitter (@jqleejq)