By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.
Nestle Waters of North America is about giving back to its community, says Lisa Garcia of Ron Sachs Communication. As the new spokesperson for Nestle, she was discussing one of the company’s most recent projects – the donation of $17,000 for new playground equipment for Lee Elementary School.
Garcia spoke about the project recently when she visited Madison County with a FAMU graduate student, who was preparing a water quality project report. Garcia wanted to show her the Nestle plant and let her see firsthand not only the water extraction process – Nestle’s commercial venture – but also the various ways in which the company works to care for and protect the source of that water: the environment that produces it, everything from the land to the trees to the rivers.
Nestle not only brings about 175 jobs to the Madison area, she added, it also tries to be a good corporate citizen.
For example, everything Nestle does at the plant is 95 percent recycled, and the plant maintains a gopher tortoise preserve on its property. Recently, about 30 Nestle employees and their families were part of the annual “Great Suwannee Cleanup,” in which the Nestle team took canoes along the Withlacoochee River, gathering up over 300 pounds of trash that day.
Then, there are the more tangible ways in which the company gives back, including its latest effort, the $17,000 donation for the new playground equipment for Lee Elementary. But the giving back doesn’t stop there; once the new equipment arrives, the company will again have a team of volunteers assembled from among its own employees, ready to go to work putting the new equipment together and installing it on the school’s property.
The new pieces of equipment will fill in a wide-open area in the playground, adding to the older pieces already in place that were brought over from the old Lee School. Garcia believes that the entire project should be completed within the next few weeks.
Robin Hill, principal of Lee Elementary, said she had been told the project would begin in November, so she expects the start-up will be within the next few days. “I believe it’s going to be a lot of climbing equipment,” she said. “Mainly some monkey bars and some climbing nets.”
“It’s important for every good neighbor to take care of the environment and not just be concerned with the bottom line,” said Garcia. “They (Nestle) give back…and it’s a good balance.”
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