On Friday 26 November, a group of delaware’s (senior) starters from this year were on hand to help plant a total of 4025 trees as an onboarding activity. The effort was a collaboration between delaware and Natuurpunt Kampenhout to plant 1.5 hectares of trees as a first phase of connecting two local forests (the Rotbos with the Votvinkenbos).
Originally, the effort was set up by delaware’s CSR team together with Natuurpunt as a part of the UN SDG’s (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals), more specifically SDG 13 (Climate action) and SDG 15 (Life on land). Although delaware has already supported reforestation projects that have seen over 79,000 trees planted internationally, in collaboration with WeForest, this was the first opportunity to actually do the planting ourselves. Aside from an important CSR activity, this was also a great opportunity to offer this year’s new hires an opportunity to get to know one another. The trees symbolize the start of their careers at delaware: planting trees, growing careers. What’s more, at any point during and after their careers, our #peopleofdelaware can come visit the forest and watch it grow together with them.
“Connecting both forests will make the entire area more robust and will improve the habitat of some protected species such as the black woodpecker, the middle spotted woodpecker and the European honey buzzard,” said Stefan Vandevenne, the forest’s conservator. Planting the trees will also help to soften and improve the quality of the surface water. The actual species of trees used were all indigenous such as the common oak, the black alder and the common aspen.
Pieter Sanders, Facility Manager and proud member of delaware’s CSR team, says: “For many years, we have supported WeForest, but we really wanted to make our positive effects on the environment we live and work in more tangible for the #peopleofdelaware in Belgium. With the creation of this forest, delaware has been able to bring topics such as durability and nature closer to home.” Chairwoman of the CSR team, Ann de Sloover, says: “Living our values is really important within delaware. Today is a great example that care, commitment and team spirit are not just words but that we can achieve great results by putting these values into action.”
