The Advocate, 
Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Company's Christmas Cleanup

Unilever workers do community service

By Louis Porter
Special Correspondent

STAMFORD—Local agencies that clean streets and maintain gardens got a hand yesterday from Unilever employees, some of whom donned Santa Claus hats.

Volunteers from Unilever Home & Personal Care-North America, which has its headquarters in Greenwich, fanned out yesterday across Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk and Darien to do good deeds.

“We are giving back to the area in the morning or afternoon and then getting together for a holiday party later,” said Magnus Jonsson, an associate brand manager for the company and leader of one of the 30 volunteer crews.

Sixty volunteers assisted Keep Stamford Beautiful by cleaning up litter and graffiti, removing illegally posted signs and preparing planters for the spring along Stillwater Avenue in Stamford.

“I appreciate it so much the people who are coming out to help,” said Martha Burns, Westside community organizer for Keep Stamford Beautiful.

The nonprofit organization gave volunteers garbage bags, gloves, tools, Santa hats and 1,000 tulip bulbs to place in 25 large planters along Stillwater Avenue.

“This was a project that I have wanted to do, but I just didn’t have enough volunteers,” said Rick Myers, director of operations for Keep Stamford Beautiful.

“This year, especially after Sept. 11, we really wanted to do something with the whole community to do something in teams,” said Linda Lancia, who works in marketing for Unilever and organized yesterday’s effort. Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer products companies, produces and markets a range of food and home personal care products.

Volunteers helped Myers’ organization on Stillwater Avenue and cleaned up Carwin Park. In Stamford, the volunteers also performed work for St. Luke’s, the Oak Street Center After School Program, the Yerwood Center and the New Covenant House of Hospitality, among others.

In Greenwich, volunteers from Unilever helped with outside landscaping work at the YMCA, organized toys for Kids in Crisis, painted at the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich and worked at several other nonprofit groups.

In Norwalk, they sorted food and clothing at the Norwalk Emergency Shelter and wrapped holiday presents for the George Washington Carver Community Center; in Darien, they sorted holiday inventory for Person to Person.

“Whatever they need us to do, we are willing to do it,” Lancia said.

Unilever selected communities in which the company and its employees have a connection, said Perry Yeatman, head of corporate affairs for Unilever Home and Personal Care-North America.

“We look for projects that fit the community’s need, the employees’ interests and the company’s goals in terms of philanthropy,” she said.