FP x World Clean Up Day 2020

What began as a “one country, one day” philosophy now allows us to roll up our sleeves and unite in minimizing our global impact. 

World Clean Up Day owes its humble origins to Estonia, a small northern European country where, twelve years ago, 50,000 of its citizens united to clean up the country in 5 hours. Today, the simple “one country, one day” formula has inspired the whole world, growing into a global movement with millions of volunteers in more than 150 countries. In addition to individual and group cleanups, on Clean Up Day many countries also run educational programs that include webinars and workshops on sorting, recycling, and composting, creating much-needed awareness on the issue of waste and its management around the world. 

This year, Free People partnered with the National Parks Foundation and joined the movement by announcing a World Clean Up Week, inviting our employees to choose the most convenient day to spend a few hours cleaning their own corner of the world. 

Taking advantage of the recently launched FP Volunteer Hours Program, the turnout surpassed all expectations! Working remotely since March due to the pandemic, 70% of our employees jumped at the opportunity to get out of the house and take a break from their computers, participating from 2 countries, in 47 different cities. Some were happy to finally reconnect and spend time with their teams – albeit by remaining safely socially distanced — others recruited the help of family members and even their furry friends!

“It just felt really amazing being able to make a difference and get to be with my team. I definitely miss the sense of community we had in the office, so it was awesome being able to see everyone participating through social.”

Participants was encouraged to upload photos of their Clean Up Day on social media, and for every post shared and tagged #careFP, Free People donated $5 to the National Parks Foundation, which resulted in our raising $15,000.

From the photos shared online, we saw clean ups taking place everywhere: at beaches, along rivers, in neighborhood parks and along city streets. As a community, Free People collected a grand total of 590 bags , totaling an incredible 3,000 pounds of trash! 

“It was nice to dedicate time and energy just helping out the Earth. Other people saw that we were cleaning and started helping out too!”

We are proud of the impact we have made as a community, and we hope that Clean Up Day serves as a reminder that we are stronger when we work together towards making the world a better place.

To learn more about Care FP visit our page here. 

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