Earth Data Giving: The Cub Scouts

J.P. Stokes, Earth Data Incorporated’s senior hydrogeologist, stepped out of the office for a few days last month to lend his time to the Cub Scouts for their annual Summer Day Camp where his son was a participant. “Bug Hunters” was the theme of the 4-Rivers Cub Scout Day Camp held at the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds from June 19th – 26th. J.P. volunteered to be a Den Leader at the camp where the scouts were immersed in activities and educational programs.

J.P.’s son Colin joined hundreds of his fellow scouts to have fun while learning skills like fishing, archery, first aid, knot tying, crafts and major life skills such as teamwork and goal setting. As a Den Leader, J.P.  helped the kids with their activities and crafts. He enjoyed sharing in the camp activities with his son while being able to support a great community organization. There was so much for the scouts to see, do and learn, J.P. felt this was a special opportunity to shepherd his group of boys in their experience of new ideas.

Earth Data cares a lot about our community and especially about taking the time to volunteer and make a difference. Here at EDI we have a policy that allows our employees to take off one day per quarter to spend time volunteering for a cause they’re passionate about. J.P. took advantage of this program and saved his days and spent them volunteering with the Cub Scouts at their day camp and in the process spent some extra time with his son.

To participate in the Cub Scout Camp J.P. took advantage of Earth Data’s corporate policy that provides full-time employees with one additional day of paid personal leave per calendar quarter to “give back” to our local communities.  Mark A. Williams, president of Earth Data, places an emphasis on volunteer work and sees the value in providing employees with additional paid leave for spending time doing volunteer work for worthwhile causes. “I think we have a great group of folks here at Earth Data who share that passion for giving. As a business owner, I want to encourage our employees to do their part to make a positive difference. And I realize people need their vacation and personal time to spend with their families, recreate, and maybe heal. By offering additional paid time-off to our full-time employees to serve our communities in a way that’s important to them, they don’t have to use their vacation time. I view that as a win for our communities and a win for our employees. And who doesn’t like a good win-win!”

Taking time to give back to the community is an integral part of Earth Data’s philosophy of corporate giving. The company regularly partners with local organizations to support causes that are not only important to our company but beneficial to our surrounding communities as a whole. Examples of recent Earth Data corporate giving include sponsorship and significant employee participation in the “Big Guys Reading to Little Guys” initiative in the Queen Anne’s County Public Schools, and the 2016 and 2017 Clean Water Concert Series in Easton, Maryland, sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Avalon foundation.

Earth Data encourages all employees to embrace our corporate philosophy of taking the time to passionately “give back” in what may be small, but are all certainly meaningful, ways.