Purpose Day💜: Stanley Park Invasive Species Removal

Stanley Park is a beautiful Canadian landmark. As Vancouverites, we are proud to live close to this wonderful piece of outdoors right in our city. Purposely hosted our second Purpose Day💜 on June 17th; bringing some fantastic companies together with the Stanley Park Ecology Society. We helped pull out invasive plant species and focused on English Ivy due to how much of it there is in the park.

Why Remove Invasive Species?

English Ivy can be deadly to trees as it covers their leaves and prevents them from getting the sun they need. It also blankets the forest floor overtaking other native species and growing on tree trunks. The ivy keeps the tree trunks moist creating an ideal environment for pests or other rot in the tree. Eventually, these trees will deteriorate and fall over, posing a safety risk to people and animals. The Stanley Park Ecology Society brings in volunteers of all ages to educate and help remove these invasive species.

What did we get up to?

When we arrived, we introduced people to what we would be doing for the afternoon and handed out some safety vests and gloves. We walked to our destination and the Stanley Park Ecology Society team showed us just what to look for and how to pull up the ivy making sure to get the roots.

We rolled up our sleeves and got to work. And boy was it hard work! The ivy can grow in very long thick vines that root themselves along the forest floor. These vines can be multiple meters long and wrap around trees, roots and other vegetation making them harder to release. The team showed some fantastic work ethic and we were able to get bales of ivy vines, roots, and leaves to be picked up by Vancouver parks.

It was such a beautiful day and pretty warm out. We brought snacks and drinks keeping everyone hydrated and fed as they broke a sweat pulling all the vines out. Check out our before and after of the location we worked in!

Our Fantastic Volunteers!

We collaborated with five Vancouver-based companies to bring 30 volunteers for our second Purpose Day. Purpose days bring corporate teams together for a fun day of team building and engaging with the local community. We were joined by a diverse set of fantastic Vancouver companies including: Black & White Zebra, Conexiom, SALUS, Event Temple, and CoPilot.ai. Everyone worked so hard and accomplished a lot in the few hours we were there.

The connections that people made that day spoke volumes as to why we love to do what we do. People were connecting with their own co-workers in an environment that pushed them outside of the day-to-day office-style conversations. People from different companies were able to get to know other developers or marketers and network in a casual environment.

"Doing work other than 'work work' made me feel more comfortable with my colleagues that I believe will strengthen and benefit our corporate relationship” - Emily Lundh.

Volunteering has many benefits and here at Purposely it brings us such joy to see the bonds people make while they work together for a good cause.

Attendees also learned new things about invasive species; Caitlin from SALUS said,

"I learned something new about my own backyard! I had no idea [English] Ivy was an invasive species. I also loved getting to spend time with some team members that I don't usually get to work closely with in the office." - Caitlin Liboiron

Join us for our next Purpose Day💜

We will be working with Ocean Wise Shoreline Cleanup to help keep English Bay clear of trash on July 22. If you are interested in your company attending an upcoming Purpose Day let us know!