Volcom, In Partnership With National Coalition For The Homeless, Prepares To Launch Jeans Recycling Program For 2010

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) COSTA MESA, CA – July 13, 2010– Volcom, Inc. (NASDAQ: VLCM), the youth clothing innovator, is giving your jeans a chance again in 2010. 

In 2009 more than 5,000 pairs of jeans were collected by 100 North American stores featuring Volcom product and then donated to fifty local homeless shelters across the country. This year Volcom is hoping to collect upwards of 10,000 pairs from more than 300 participating stores around the world. 

In August, each of the participating retailers will set up a Denim Recycle Bin in their store where do-gooders can bring in a used pair of jeans in good, wearable condition to contribute to the drive. Anyone who donates a pair of jeans at any one of the participating stores will receive either a Give Jeans a Chance hat, sticker or button. Additionally, every participant automatically gets entered for a chance to win a year supply of Volcom Brand Jeans (VBJ), a $1,000 Volcom prize pack or one of the 50 VBJ runner up prize packages being offered.  
 
Regarding last year’s campaign, Neil Donovan, Executive Director, National Coalition for the Homeless said, “Volcom’s Give Jeans a Chance (GJAC) is inspiring thousands to make a single donation and it’s having a huge impact in the lives of so many homeless people.”  
 
So that fans can show their support, Volcom is offering a Give Jeans a Chance t-shirt, which will be available at most participating retailers in early August (see attached image). As part of the Volcom Give Back Series, part of the proceeds from the shirt will be donated to the National Coalition for the Homeless in support of their quest to end homelessness.
 
“Last year’s drive proved to be rewarding to all involved,” said Derek Sabori, Volcom’s Director of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. “You see the photos and people are just stoked… Stoked to give back.”
 
Floris Gierman, Volcom’s Director of Retail Marketing is heading up the program and agrees, “Putting on clean, dry jeans in the morning is something that most of us take for granted. It’s easy to forget the tremendous number of homeless people living in the US who cannot enjoy the same simple privilege. We could not be more excited about Give Jeans a Chance returning for its second year. With the continued support of shops and homeless shelters we hope to reach our goal of raising 10,000 pairs to keep those in need warm this winter.”
 
For more info about Give Jeans a Chance and for updates on the drive, check www.volcom.com/givejeansachance.
 
For additional info, please contact
 
Floris Gierman
 
Phone: 949-646-2175
 
fgierman@volcom.com
 
About Volcom, Inc.
 
Volcom is an innovative designer, marketer and distributor of premium quality young men’s and women’s clothing, accessories and related products. The Volcom brand, symbolized by The Stone, is athlete-driven, creative and forward thinking.   Volcom has consistently followed its motto of “youth against establishment,” and the brand is inspired by the energy of youth culture. Volcom branded products are sold throughout the United States and internationally. Volcom’s news announcements and SEC filings are available through the company’s website at www.volcom.com.
 
About the Volcom Give Back Series
 
Created in 2008, the Volcom Give Back Series (VGBS), is a program where a percentage of proceeds from select styles go directly to community-based non-profits. The company has supported charities and organizations including the National Coalition for the Homeless, TACA (Talk About Curing Autism), Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii, and Boarding for Breast Cancer (B4BC).

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CSR Minute: Boar’s Head Campaign + American Heart Assn; Report on Microfinance in India

Corporate Social Responsibility News: Boar’s Head Campaign + American Heart Association; Companiesandmarkets.com’s Report on Microfinance in India

Announcing the “Plant a Tree with Florence I.T. Every Hour” Campaign | 3BL Media

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) December 9, 2009 – The “Plant a Tree with Florence I.T. Every Hour” campaign for the month of December, 2009 is simple: Florence I.T. clients this month simply continue what they are doing already, using Florence I.T. for their I.T. support. For EVERY HOUR spent on services Florence I.T. will plant ONE TREE in the client’s name. There is no limit, so prepayment of time may appeal to some clients if they wish to make a larger impact. “This is, quite simply, one more easy thing we can do.” said President of Florence I.T., Matt Lampiasi. He went on to say  ”The program is being offered because we believe urgent action is needed to reverse the effects of climate change. Instead of it just being about our company, we are doing what it can for the environment, we want to continue to tie the rewards to customer action.” 

About Florence I.T.

Florence I.T. began offering I.T. consulting, Value Added Reselling and I.T. support with a strong social and environmental focus from the start in early 2005.  We donate a large portion of our yearly pretax income to local nonprofit and community programs, usually around 15%.  As a home based virtual business, we employ (and deploy, for clients), remote access technologies which have clear environmental benefit. Our home office employs the aid of a grid-connected solar electric system  that covers most of our yearly power requirements. Client locations are intentionally focused to the immediate geographical area to minimize travel.  We use LED and CFL lights, hardly any paper, responsibly recycle, and use and offer low power computing solutions whenever possible. In addition, we use a small “off-grid” solar setup that runs the Florence I.T. web server, completely on solar power, independent of the electric grid. For more information on our services, environmental or social initiatives, please visit our solar powered website at florenceit.net.

 About Mokugift

A social venture focused on customer experience and tangible, positive benefit to the environment and society, Mokugift makes it easy and rewarding to plant trees, for $1 apiece, through online “gifting.” Giving a mokugift tree is similar to sending an e-card, and recipients can proudly display their trees online at Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo!, and 50 other popular Web sites.

An official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Billion Tree Campaign, mokugift collaborates with award-winning nonprofit agroforestry organizations such as Trees For The Future and Sustainable Harvest International to plant trees in twelve countries: Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Burundi, Senegal, Zambia, India, the Philippines and Haiti.  Using environmentally sustainable methods, farmers in these countries plant mokugift trees to restock existing forests and enable more diverse, productive and economically sustainable land-use systems.

For more information on mokugift, please visit http://www.mokugift.com

CSR Minute: 12/9/09 – Sodexo’s “Better” CSR Plan; Royal Surveyors’ Sustainability Survey

Corporate Social Responsibility News: Sodexo’s “Better Tomorrow” CSR Plan; Royal Surveyors’ Sustainability Survey

Erin Brockovich Leads Nation’s Parents in Toxic “Crawl” to Action

Seventh Generation, the nation’s leading brand of non-toxic and environmentally-safe household and personal care products, announced today a new partnership with noted advocate Erin Brockovich and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Together they’re launching the Million Baby Crawl, a grassroots effort to raise awareness about the nation’s badly outdated chemical laws and encourage parents and others everywhere to ask Congress to pass new stronger regulations that will protect the health of all Americans.

Synthetic chemicals are currently regulated by the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a decades-old law that experts say has utterly failed to keep the nation’s environment and its citizens safe from materials that cause cancer and a host of other serious illnesses. Under the outdated TCSA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not have the authority to demand the information it needs to evaluate a chemical’s risk, and neither manufacturers nor the agency are required to prove a chemical’s safety before it can be used. In fact, in the 33 years since the TCSA was enacted, the EPA has required testing on only 200 of the more than 80,000 chemical compounds now in use.

“It’s time for commonsense limits on toxic chemicals in our homes, workplaces, and in the products we use,” said Andy Igrejas of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition. “We must act together to see that new legislation is passed and families are protected from unsafe products. The Million Baby Crawl will take much more than baby steps toward making these things happen.”

Congress is writing a new proposal to reform TSCA, updating last year’s Kid-Safe Chemicals Act. Scheduled for a Fall 2009 introduction, the policy will address these and many other deficiencies by establishing tough new safety standards for each chemical on the market and requiring manufacturers to prove that their chemicals meet these standards before they can be used in the products people buy. The bill would give the EPA new authority to restrict any substances that fail to pass the test.

To rally support for the Kid-Safe Chemical Act and raise awareness of the urgent issues it addresses, Seventh Generation, Erin Brockovich, and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families have launched the Million Baby Crawl, an online initiative designed to educate parents, empower them to work on the legislation’s behalf and literally help them create infant avatars. The result will be a virtual march, or crawl, to Washington, DC, where they’ll “rattle” legislators for toxic chemical reform.

“I am an advocate for awareness, the truth, and a person’s right to know. I believe that in the absence of the truth, all of us stand helpless to defend our families and our health, which are the greatest gifts we have,” said Erin Brockovich, famed environmental and consumer advocate and mother of three. Perhaps best known for the Oscar winning story of her first fight against energy giant Pacific Gas and Electric company, Ms. Brockovich continues to be focused on the research of environmental issues and remains dedicated to providing information and support services to communities in need. “In many instances, our issues may seem to fall on deaf ears, but I’m living proof that when we speak loudly enough, change will occur. I’m urging everyone to join me in the Million Baby Crawl to help make that difference and make sure all our voices, young and old are heard.”

To learn how you can get involved locally to support stronger standards on toxic chemicals and make a baby of your very own that will crawl to Washington, D.C. to help fight for a healthier nation to grow up in, please visit www.MillionBabyCrawl.com. Follow the Million Baby Crawl on Twitter @mbcrawl.

“We assume our homes are safe havens, but the fact is that the vast majority of the chemical compounds found in the products we use there have never been tested. And in most cases manufacturers don’t even have to tell us on product labels what those toxins are. This is a dangerous recipe for harm that virtually every family is exposed to every day,” said Seventh Generation co-founder and Chief Inspired Protagonist, Jeffrey Hollender. “We’re on a mission to come together and change that once and for all.”

via 3blmedia.com

CSR Minute: October 19, 2009 – Ceres and Clean Economy Network’s Jobs Day; CauseMedia’s “NameYourCause” campaign

Corporate Social Responsible News: Ceres and Clean Economy Network’s Jobs Day; CauseMedia’s “NameYourCause” campaign

CSR Minute: October 12, 2009 – Milk-Bone’s Good to Give Campaign; Fenton’s New NYC Managing Director; Nubius Organic’s Site

Corporate Social Responsible News: Milk-Bone’s Good to Give Campaign; Fenton’s New NYC Managing Director; Nubius Organic’s New Web Site

CSR Minute: October 2, 2009 – Bon Appetit’s Farming Guide; Deloitte’s Climate Report; “Babes for Breasts” + Mike’s Hard Lemonade’s Cancer Campaign

Corporate Social Responsible News: Bon Appetit’s Farming Guide; Deloitte’s Climate Report; “Babes for Breasts” + Mike’s Pink Hard Lemonade’s Cancer Campaign

The 2010 Our Daily Bread Prize Calls for Submissions

With the success of previous years “Our Daily Bread” candidate proposals on how to sustain and create better processes behind Food Security, Vital Systems is looking for new team and community oriented submissions for this year’s event. I’ve taken the liberty of copying the details and instructions to their campaign and adding it below.

Past, present, and future steps to address this goal include:

The 2010 Our Daily Bread Prize Calls for Submissions for sustainable food and farming solutions written as proposed or proven case studies that overcome specific integrated social, environmental, governance/policy, and financial/business challenges. Candidate submissions must be written for a planned publication with a video component that communicates key messages to a wide, diverse audience. Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged.

2010 Our Daily Bread Prize

The $10,000 2010 Prize will be awarded as one $5,000 grand prize and two $2,500 finalist prizes. The winners will be notified during October, 2010 and will be formally announced at a venue that is yet to be finalized.

Current activities (2008-2010):

• As a project of Vital Systems, the host of the 2010 Our Daily Bread Prize, we call for papers that integrate food and farming practices presented as proposed and proven best cases of the most effective ways to secure our food sources, change our eating habits (for both personal and planetary health), halt the extinction of many of the world’s species, and grow economic justice through the visions, strategies, life goals, tools, and rewards we craft to be compatible with our new world story. Many thanks to the jurors who have stepped forward to select the best submissions from among us responding to this Call as candidates and candidate teams. We will have the honor of presenting and thanking them formally and publicly after the completion of their deliberations of candidate submissions and selection of our 2010 Our Daily Bread Prize winners.
• We also welcome you to serve as a Community Outreach Leader by sending Calls for Submissions to your communities to reach a significant number of potential candidates. In addition, if you publish a newsletteror e-newsletter, participate in working groups, consultancies, or associations, or have relationships with authors or media associates working on behalf of expanding food and farming business practices to include impacts on people and places worldwide, please forward both the Call for Submissions for the 2010 Our Daily Bread Prize and the 2010 Our Daily Bread Prize Frequently Asked Questions, or contact us! All final candidate submissions are due by August 11, 2010.
• In addressing the challenges of systemic collapse, one important path to success is to ensure that information on which we can act is clear, current, and accessible to a broad and diverse public. As our Co-evolve logo connotes, Sustainable Ventures and now Vital Systems gathers collective knowledge and then translates what we have compiled so that we each can act effectively in implementing sustainability in our own lives. Vital Systems is actively seeking collaborating organizations to create a long standing entity to sustain this function.

For more information

Visit Vital Systems online at www.VitalSystemsCA.com. Prospective Candidates and Jurors, please refer to the  Our Daily Bread Prize FAQ: http://www.vitalsystemsca.com/download/2010_ODB_Prize_FAQ.pdf