Hurwitz Fine’s Long Island office and family and friends recently partnered with national non-profit The Girls Empowerment Movement, Inc. (GEM) for their “Operation Sparkle” community service event. This year, however, historic and unprecedented rains derailed their outdoor plans to host a beach cleanup. As such, Hurwitz Fine got together with GEMs at the South Huntington Public Library and created take-home DIY cleanup kits for participants to use in their own neighborhoods and parks. The group also upcycled T-shirts for the event, in the spirit of environmental sustainability. Finally, GEMs launched a crayon recycling initiative that day—crayons are actually not biodegradable and never breakdown in landfills. Members of the Firm donated many, many old crayons to GEM for the project, which will then be remanufactured into new crayons and shipped to children’s hospitals.
GEMs is an international organization dedicated to inspiring and empowering young girls to reach their full potential. Their mission, through educational programming, local events, and community service, is to promote gender equality and help embolden girls to change the world. One of their hallmark events is Operation Sparkle, an environmental cleanup project for all of their chapters. This event is in following and in support of their alignment with the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development. To that end, each year they gather together to for an outdoor clean-up for either spring or fall. In previous Operations, they have cleaned beaches, rivers, and other waterways, and they have encouraged all of their chapters around the world to clean their local areas and parks.
