Last month, a group of colleagues from King County Metro came together for a beach cleanup day with Puget Soundkeeper Alliance (EGP Code 2508). Their goal was to honor the memory of their colleague Cecilia Hawley.

Cecilia wasn’t just an amazing co-worker, she was also a beach naturalist volunteer. She previously served as an Employee Giving Program Ambassador and helped her colleagues connect with causes and nonprofits that they are passionate about.

According to Anne Gienapp, “We chose this activity as the way we wanted to honor Cecilia Hawley because she herself was a long-time volunteer beach naturalist. As someone born and raised in Seattle, Cecilia absolutely loved Puget Sound and was dedicated to caring for and educating others about this precious ecosystem. Cecilia particularly loved walking the beaches on the very low tide days in June and July when she could help people find and learn about the special things that emerge during those days—and pick up any trash she saw. Being a beach naturalist was important to Cecilia and brought her a lot of joy. So, we contacted the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance and asked about arranging a beach cleanup day for a group from King County Metro as a way to pay tribute to Cecilia. The Puget Soundkeeper folks were amazing to work with, and they made everything very easy for us. Our group picked up over 80 pounds of trash in about 2 hours.”

By volunteering, the employees from Metro were able to honor their colleague, make a difference in our community, and use an amazing King County employee benefit.

Did you know you can take paid time off to volunteer? Eligible King County Employees can use up to three instances of sick leave per calendar year to volunteer for an Employee Giving Program nonprofit or a local school. You can read more about the volunteer benefit here.