Through Park Pride’s Volunteer Program, community groups and organizations of all sizes are able to organize custom volunteer experiences in City of Atlanta or DeKalb County parks. Cox Enterprises has worked with Park Pride for nearly a decade doing just that. Park clean ups are a part of Cox Conserves, the company’s national sustainability program that encourages Cox Enterprises’ 50,000 employees and their families to engage in eco-friendly practices.
We recently chatted with Tyrene Hodge, Project Manager of Corporate Responsibility with Cox Enterprises, about Cox’s experience in working with Park Pride on large scale volunteer days.
Here is what Tyrene had to say:
“We love working with Park Pride because we know that they have great relationships with the city and with the Friends of the Park groups. Leveraging those existing relationships ensure that our volunteers are doing work that is wanted by the community and necessary for the well-being of the park. In particular, I really enjoy working with John Ahern, Park Pride’s Volunteer Manager, because he is truly passionate about this work and is always friendly, responsive and resourceful. Working with John to coordinate logistics really helps make it easy for me to focus on volunteer recruitment and event promotion.
Park Pride staff takes the time to show me multiple potential sites for each workday and walks me through the proposed tasks while explaining why we they are needed. I appreciate the introductions to the neighborhood representatives who work tirelessly to improve their communities through their work in the park, and who often come out to participate in the Cox Enterprises workday with our volunteers.
On event day, Park Pride is the first to arrive and last to leave, providing excellent training and orientation to our volunteers and making sure we get the job done… and done right. There is never a shortage of tools or materials and detailed instructions are provided.
They also accommodate the many requests that sometimes come along with working with major corporations, such as filming video, providing quotes and sound bites, and accommodating groups of all sizes for projects that vary in duration.
I’m looking forward to my continued work with Park Pride!”
Thank you, Tyrene, for the kind words – it’s always a pleasure to work with Cox Enterprises volunteers!
If YOUR organization is interested in learning more about Park Pride’s Volunteer Program or would like to schedule a work day in a City of Atlanta or DeKalb County park, please reach out to Volunteer Manager, John Ahern, at john@parkpride.org. We look forward to working with you!
