Earth Week Spring Cleaning

By Candace Higginbotham

It’s been a busy spring for Regions volunteers, with Share the Good, Financial Literacy Month and Autism Awareness Month.

Some teams decided to take it outside and celebrate another April event, Earth Week, by sprucing up parks, rivers, neighborhoods and other public spaces.

The Birmingham-based Regions Finance division took Earth Week literally – by getting their hands in the dirt. The team worked with community partner Friends of Avondale Park to install a new native plant garden and a natural erosion control bank that will improve the water quality of the park’s pond.

“We were looking for a way to give back to our local community and get outdoors during the beautiful spring season,” said Allyson Jansen, an analyst on the Financial Planning and Analysis team.

“Friends of Avondale Park was a perfect community partner for us—it’s a local organization doing meaningful work to preserve and improve one of Birmingham’s historic parks. When we learned about their ongoing efforts to combat erosion damage and restore the park with native plants, we saw a great opportunity to support a cause that impacts both the environment and our community.”

Around 25 associates spent the afternoon in the park, moving piles of topsoil and compost into two large newly tilled beds, which were then covered with mulch to prepare them for planting later in the fall. The hard work paid off and the team was thrilled with the result.

“It was inspiring to see how a few hours of teamwork could make such a visible impact,” Jansen said. “Projects like these help us step outside our daily roles and contribute to something bigger than ourselves. We look forward to continuing this kind of work in the future.”

It was inspiring to see how a few hours of teamwork could make such a visible impact.
Allyson Jansen, Analyst on Regions Financial Planning and Analysis team

According to John Forney, president of Friends of Avondale Park, their effort made a big impact.

“Friends of Avondale Park often requires help to address problems and opportunities across this 37-acre tract,” Forney said. “The Regions Finance crew were great fun to work with, eager and even competitive with each other. Their work will allow us to install native plants next fall, stabilizing the pond bank and the walk running along it. For a group of bankers, they were impressively able and willing to get their hands dirty!”

Another historic neighborhood, Edgehill, just south of downtown Nashville, got a spring facelift thanks to Regions.

Six associates, led by Jackob Murray, a Regions Small Business banker and marketplace co-chair for the Nashville Impact Network, participated in the Community Gardening Day at Edgehill Apartments. The team planted flowers, vegetables and shrubs and refreshed garden beds.

“The garden is one of the largest and oldest community gardens in Nashville,” Murray said. “A few residents came over to visit and help out. They thanked us for helping to get the garden ready for the season.”

Murray has a special connection to the Edgehill neighborhood and says the Nashville Impact Network will continue to support the community with various other events and activities.

Other Regions teams took to the water for their Earth Week activity. Whit Howell, part of the Wealth Management Strategic Execution team, worked with Cahaba Riverkeeper to lead a group of 13 Birmingham-based Wealth Management and Digital Banking associates for a clean-up project on the Cahaba River.

The team floated six miles in canoes and picked up more than 300 pounds of trash.

Those six miles of paddling made a big impact on the local community: The Cahaba River is the main drinking water source for around about one-fifth of all Alabamians and is a habitat for the iconic Cahaba lily.

“I’d heard about Cahaba River cleanups from other Regions associates and after reaching out to Cahaba Riverkeeper, it was a no-brainer to get some teammates together and get out on the water!” Howell said.

Though the team had fun and made a huge difference, he added that it was a bit disheartening to see so much trash left that they didn’t have the resources to gather. A good reason to come back next year!

Jonesboro, Arkansas, associates also took part in some spring cleaning – in their work neighborhood. Shelly Lamb, Private Wealth Management Trust Support administrator, led a team that took part in the Keep Jonesboro Beautiful campaign by picking up trash and debris near the local Regions branch.

Lamb is part of the Green Business Committee of the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce and is a longtime advocate for local conservation and beautification efforts. “Getting a group of coworkers together to pick up trash is a fun way to get lots of people involved in keeping our neighborhoods clean and beautiful.”

Lamb and other Jonesboro associates also participated in the Arkansas State University Earth Day celebration. The event hosted more than 200 elementary students from across northeast Arkansas who learned about protecting the environment, gardening basics and appreciating nature.

“I’m excited we had so much volunteer activity around Earth Day this year,” said Susan Clowdus, volunteer manager for the Regions Making Life Better Institute. “These associates made life better in these neighborhoods and communities by making them more beautiful!”