Deere employees volunteer 82,000 hours to community organizations

Deere & Company announced January 16 that its U.S. employees recorded more than 82,000 hours of volunteer support to community organizations. This work is part of Deere’s citizenship efforts that focus on three key areas: long-term solutions for world hunger, education, and community development.

“We believe it is important for the company and its employees to support the efforts of the many organizations that are helping enhance communities in the U.S. and around the world,” said Sam Allen, chairman and CEO of Deere & Company.

An example of the volunteer effort by Deere employees is the packaging of 975,000 meals for local food banks in the U.S., an initiative that included 3,500 employee volunteers in recognition of World Food Day.

In addition, approximately 1,800 Deere employees volunteered for the United Way’s Day of Caring in the Quad City area of Iowa and Illinois, where the company’s world headquarters is located.

“We are committed to making an impact by supporting our employees’ philanthropic actions and investing in efforts to address world hunger, educate youth, and address critical needs in our communities,” said Allen. “In doing so, we can help achieve higher living standards for people everywhere.”

Deere’s citizenship efforts include a robust employee volunteer effort, as well as grants from the John Deere Foundation, its philanthropic organization, and through corporate contributions made mostly in communities where John Deere employees work and live.

According to Mara Sovey, director of citizenship and president of the John Deere Foundation, grants totaling nearly $32 million were made by the John Deere Foundation and the corporate contributions in fiscal year 2014.

“In total, we estimate that our investments in citizenship activities helped improve the lives of 9.4 million people around the world,” Sovey said.

Deere & Company is a world leader in providing advanced products and services and is committed to the success of customers whose work is linked to the land – those who cultivate, harvest, transform, enrich, and build upon the land to meet the world’s dramatically increasing need for food, fuel, shelter and infrastructure.

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