120 McKinstry employees kick off three-year Forterra partnership with two days of service at Crystal Springs Park
SEATTLE (April 25, 2018) — McKinstry and Forterra entered a three-year partnership to clean up and conserve Crystal Springs Park in Tukwila, Wash. More than 120 McKinstry employees will celebrate and kick off the land adoption on April 25 by volunteering more than 350 individual hours of service over two days.
Each year, McKinstry employees support community organizations and causes across the country through skills-based volunteerism in their local communities. McKinstry adopted Crystal Springs Park with a commitment to pull invasive weeds, plant native species, maintain trails, create instructional signage and rebuild/repair benches and other small structures. During the last week of April as part of a company-wide week of service, hundreds of additional McKinstry employees will support other charitable organizations and efforts across the U.S.
“The opportunity to team up with such a strong conservation organization allows us to build upon our environmental giving and philanthropic priorities while allowing our employees to engage in meaningful volunteer events that will show significant impact over time,” said Dean Allen, CEO of McKinstry. “This partnership with Forterra is a powerful example of the layered community engagement that embraces and showcases McKinstry’s values.”
After thoughtful consideration and visits to the site, McKinstry employees selected Crystal Springs Park for its need, variety of project opportunities, proximity to McKinstry’s corporate headquarters and a desire to have a positive impact on the community that surrounds the park. The McKinstry Charitable Foundation pledged $10,000 each year of the three-year partnership. The funding will help support employee volunteerism at the site, which will be guided by an on-site restoration steward. A portion of the funding is also directed to Forterra’s general fund.
“Forterra is working to keep natural environments like Crystal Springs Park alive and well. Partnering with organizations like McKinstry allows us to preserve keystone places vital to our region’s livability, sustainability and equity for decades to come,” said Michelle Connor, Forterra executive vice president. “Only when people and land throughout the region thrive together will we have the resilient, hopeful future that all of us desire.”
“Our partnership with Forterra exemplifies McKinstry’s vision of, ‘Together, building a thriving planet.’ The land adoption not only drives environmental conservation, but helps ensure high-quality access for all people to wild and natural spaces,” said Ashley Ruiz, diversity, inclusion and community relations director for McKinstry.
McKinstry employees will continue to volunteer at Crystal Springs Park for the duration of the Forterra partnership. The community can track conservation progress on the McKinstry Spark Blog at http://spark.mckinstry.com.
About McKinstry
McKinstry is a full-service, design-build-operate-and-maintain (DBOM) firm specializing in consulting, construction, energy and facility services. The firm’s innovative, integrated delivery methodology provides clients with a single point of accountability that drives waste and redundancy out of the design/build process. With over 1,600 professional staff and trades people throughout the United States and operations in more than 15 states, McKinstry advocates collaborative, sustainable solutions designed to ensure occupant comfort, improve systems efficiency, reduce facility operational costs, and optimize profitability “For The Life of Your Building.” For more information, visit www.mckinstry.com.
About Forterra
Dedicated to regional sustainability in all its dimensions — environmental, social, and economic — Forterra secures places across Washington’s landscape that are keystones of our shared future. Using skills in community-building, negotiation, real estate, land stewardship, and policy advocacy, Forterra has over its 25+ year history been part of more than 400 separate land transactions. These have now protected greater than 250,000 acres with a value exceeding $500 million — from remote wildlands, to working farms and forests, to city parks, to urban property for affordable housing. More at Forterra.org.
