While killing birds is not very environmentally friendly .... eco-volunteerism is!  To this effect I would like to propose the following:

What if we were to organize some nature-based extra curricular activity?  Conservation begins by encouraging people to enjoy nature.  In addition to the ecological benefits, participation in an outdoor activity with an emphasis on cleanup effort would acheive at least two objectives: It would help increase the interpersonal bonds between participating team members and it would demonstrate Appletree's commitment to volunteerism.  

A bike trail ride/trail-cleanup, a float trip/river-cleanup, a winter trip to the ski hill/learn to ski and ride, or an afternoon volunteering at an urban-agricultural effort  are all examples of activities which would acheive these objectives.  We could even join up with a group that has already planned a large event, such as "project aware" or "trailnet."  I'm sure there are many other nature-based activities that exist in the diverse geographic locations of our operations.  Feel free to reply with any other eco-volunteerism ideas you may have.

Dave Packman, STL, IT Specialist