AKRON—Goodyear is gearing up to give back in big ways.
During its second Global Week of Volunteering, planned for May 31-June 6, Goodyear will mobilize volunteers from each of its 20 global locations to work with more than 40 local organizations on 130 projects dedicated to building stronger, safer communities.
"We know that people value working for companies that give back and take action to better their communities," said Paul Fitzhenry, Goodyear's senior vice president of Global Communications. "The week of volunteering serves as a focal point for our volunteer work throughout the year and supports our objective of inspiring and energizing our teams to serve in our communities."
This year, volunteers from the tire maker's global headquarters in Akron will participate in projects with community partners and will help conduct 18 professional development workshops for more than 400 Akron non-area nonprofit professionals.
Volunteers from Goodyear's U.S. plants are expected to participate in this year's volunteer week and will be joined by teams in Luxembourg, China, India, Canada, Chile, South Africa and Romania, all of which will participate in local projects of their own.
"Encouraging employee volunteerism through events like the Week of Volunteering are wins for everyone involved," Mr. Fitzhenry said. "Our associates, the community organizations we support and the company all benefit from this focused effort."
In 2017, 1,000 Akron-area employees donated 5,000 hours of service to 20 nonprofit organizations and professional development workshops. Goodyear said then that roughly 70 percent of the volunteers' time was invested in sustainability projects.
Global Week of Volunteering builds on the tire maker's Goodyear Better Future platform, which focuses on providing associates with opportunities to participate in safe, smart and sustainable community engagement programs across the globe. More information is available at goodyear.com/community.