Our spring 2019 Twitter For Good Day

Twice a year, Tweeps around the world take some time away from their desks to give back to their communities – #TwitterForGood Day. More than 1,330 Twitter employees around the world committed more than 3,350 hours of service to projects such as cleaning up neighborhoods San Francisco, hosting Iftar dinners for young people in Jakarta, revamping a community center in Dublin, and organizing a dance for children with disabilities in Sao Paulo. This day reminds us of the impact service, community and partnership can have.

Want to see how Tweeps spent the day? Check out this moment and continue scrolling for a snapshot!

APAC

Sydney

As part of the annual Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea, @TwitterAU hosted a morning tea stall to raise money for Cancer Council Australia (@CancerCouncilOz). The idea behind Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea is simple — bring your friends, colleagues, and community together over some tea and treats to help fund Cancer Council’s life-saving research, prevention, programs, and help support people impacted by cancer.

Jakarta

In Indonesia, @TwitterID teamed up with Httpool Indonesia (@Httpool) and Young on Top (@YoungOnTop) to organize a “YOT Share Ramadhan” event. By sharing Iftar, the breaking of the fast together, Tweeps in Jakarta shared their meal with about 100 children orphans and disadvantaged people around the city of Depok. Other teams participated in games and activities to distract kids as they waited to break their fast.

India

As a part of our #TwitterForGood efforts, we are continuing to monitor the aftermath of Cyclone Fani and are trying to work with our NGO partners in supporting restoration work in Orissa and other impacted areas.

@TwitterIndia celebrated #TwitterForGood Day with a range of activities focused around environmental protection, social awareness and public health, kicking things off with a #TwitterForGood with a ‘City Session on the State of Varanasi Pollution’ in partnership with #LetMeBreathe (@LetMeBreathe_In). Varanasi continues to be one of the most polluted cities in the world. The session looked at multiple approaches that could be adopted in order to  deal with the menace of air pollution including reforestation, minimising pollution of the Ganga River, reduced diesel usage, and sewage treatment plants, among others.

Seoul

Under the theme "Everyday is #EarthDay," @TwitterKorea partnered with the Gangnam District Volunteer Center of Seoul City to conduct activities around the Yangjae Stream that runs through Southern Seoul. After learning about the ecosystem around the Yangjae Stream from local activists, the team spent a day making Effective micro-organism mudballs which provide a good microbial diversity in pond water and belong to the biological water improvement agents (EM Mudballs) Volunteers then threw 500 EM balls into the stream to help clean the water. This was the first time Team Korea participated in an environmental volunteer activity. It was a meaningful opportunity to demonstrate Twitter's commitment to the environment and interact with community leaders at the district level.

Singapore

@TwitterSG spent the month of May hosting #TwitterForGood activities. This kicked off with the Earth Observatory of Singapore (@EOS_SG), one of @TwitterSG’s emergency response partners - stopping by to share how they have been monitoring earthquakes and volcano eruptions, as well as measuring their impact with the use of Twitter data. Tweeps also visited Project X (@ProjectX), an NGO focused on sex workers’ rights, where the Executive Director of Project X spoke about the landscape and legal provisions surrounding the issue of sex work and human rights in Singapore.

The team in Singapore also hosted a panel on parental benefits and the “Motherhood bias” together with the Association of Women for Action and Research (@awarenews), and ended the month with a Food Drive in collaboration with Food Bank Singapore, and a Book Drop with WomenTalk (@WOMENTALKTVASIA), an online video and podcast interview series featuring unsung heroines in Asia.

Tokyo

@TwitterJP volunteered at the neighbourhood community clean-up for Chuo-city  (@Chuo_city) , where Twitter Japan office located, as part of their “clean-up day” initiative. The team also organized a book donation drive for a number of local nonprofits in partnership with Charibon (@InfoCharibon). After conducting a poll, Tweeps decided to donate all books collected in the office to the National Network for Victim Support (@nnvs_org ). Also, animal loving Tweeps visited Peace Wanko @peaceWankoJapan to look after dogs living in shelters. This nonprofit also trains abundant dogs as rescue dogs to work at disaster sites.

Middle East

Dubai

@TwitterMENA organized the #TweetRight initiative at the American University of Cairo where students attended digital literacy workshops and created accounts that aim to combat misinformation on the platform. The competition encouraged students to be active and creative while engaging in a powerful dialogue on promoting the health of the public conversation. The winning team received a Twitter Ads For Good reward that will help them continue to develop the knowledge and skill-set needed to fight misinformation and #TweetRight.

In the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan and as part of an ongoing effort in community engagements, we participated in the #EmiratiValuesIftar initiative that was announced by HE Shamma Al Mazrui (Minister of Youth Affairs). The idea behind the initiative is for Tweeps to be exposed to Emirati local culture and values by attending a family-hosted Ramadan Iftar at an Emirati home in Dubai and to participate in local Ramadan traditions, reflecting tolerance and engagement with the community.

Europe

Dublin

As a part of its annual volunteer efforts, @TwitterDublin voted to partner with The Peter McVerry Trust (@PMVTrust) for a second year. The Irish Tweeps set a fundraising target of €10,000 by the end of 2019, with the funds going towards support services for those who have recently been re-housed by the Trust. For #TwitterForGood Day, the team kicked off the day by calling over 60 businesses on behalf of PMVT to enable the building of their database. Tweeps hit the streets of Dublin selling badges on behalf of PMVT which were created by our very own #CreativeNest committee. Tweeps also prepared 1,000 care kits to donate to PMVT to aid those experiencing homelessness. The Public Policy team trained more than 40 individuals from a variety of NGOs on Twitter best practices and how these can help their organisation tell its unique story. The #GreenerTwitter committee organised flower planting for the PMVT residences to brighten up their windows with some summery flower boxes. The Dublin team ended the day with leaders in the office participating in our Leadership Challenge and raising our last few pennies with a raffle with prizes sponsored by Tweeps and all money raised going to PMVT.

London

@TwitterUK hosted a range of #TwitterForGood activities throughout the month of May, starting with a charity Bake Sale, which raised more than £200 for the Rainbow Trust (@RainbowTrustCC). This was followed by a drive for womens’ interview clothes in partnership with SmartWorks (@SmartWorksHQ), a team run to pick up litter in Hyde Park, and a training session to run community reading projects in partnership with The Reader (@thereaderorg). Building on wider work to make our London office more sustainable, the team topped off #TwitterForGood with a lunch-and-learn with 2Girls.1Planet (@2girls_1planet) for employees on what can be done everyday to make a positive contribution.  @TwitterUK also hosted an ‘In Conversation With’ event to raise funds for Unicef (@UNICEF) in Syria. The event featured BBC Correspondent Catrin Nye (@CatrinNye), who interviewed doctor and best selling author David Nott who has volunteered in some of the world’s most dangerous war zones. In total the evening raised over £2,500. Tweeps closed the week by celebrating the fifth birthday party for Internet Matters (@IM_org) at @TwitterUK, one of our most important online safety charity partners in the UK.

Germany

@TwitterDE partnered with Freiwilligenboerse Hamburg on a garden maintenance project. Freiwilligenboerse Hamburg is a privately funded non-profit organization that informs and accompanies people in all aspects of voluntary work. They support companies to build networks with refugees, job seekers and others in need. The idea is: people are helping people; volunteers help and support people in need to help themselves again.

US & Canada

Boston

@TwitterBoston partnered with the Charles River Esplanade (@EsplanadeBoston), a nonprofit that works to revitalize and enhance the Charles River Esplanade, preserve natural green space, and build community by providing educational, cultural, and recreational programs for everyone.

Boulder

@TwitterBoulder partnered with Wish forWheels (@WishforWheels) to fund and build 54 bikes for second graders at Columbine Elementary.  Wish for Wheels works with businesses and low income schools in the area to provide bikes and helmets to children across Colorado. Boulder Tweeps loved the camaraderie of building bikes for kids in need and teaching the children to ride those bikes on the day of #TwitterForGood.

LA

Twitter LA volunteered at A Safe Place For Youth (@SafePlace4Youth), a local organization created to support the needs of homeless youth living on the westside of Los Angeles. Volunteers helped with a number of tasks across their Venice location including painting walls, fixing furniture, sorting clothes donations and cleaning up the space!

Miami

@TwitterMiami spent the day with United Way Miami (@UnitedWayMiami) to volunteer at the United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education. As volunteers, Tweeps engaged with children three-five years old by providing a hands-on STEM experience to explore the thermodynamic qualities of home-made ice cream, and got to enjoy some sweet snacks themselves!

Seattle

At @TwitterSeattle, Tweeps worked with Food Lifeline (@FoodLifeline) to sort and package food items for distribution to food banks and shelters across Western Washington. The organization aims to feed people who are experiencing hunger today while solving the issue of hunger tomorrow. The Seattle team helped sort and package 16,000+ pounds of food (that translates into about 14,572 meals for our hungry neighbors!) The rest of the office also pitched in by packaging 300 meal kits full of non-perishable food items for the cause.#HungryDoesntHavetoHappen

San Francisco

@TwitterSF partnered with over 30 organizations around San Francisco to give back to our community. We assembled 7,000 bagged lunches for three homeless service organizations including St. Anthony Foundation (@stanthonysf), The City Eats (@TheCityEats), and FoodRunners San Francisco (@FoodRunnersSF). We cleaned streets, weeded gardens, and renewed and restored natural habitats in parklands around the city with the SF Parks Alliance (@SFParksAlliance), Mission YMCA (@MissionYMCA), and Friends of the Urban Forest (@SFUrbanForester). We built pinhole cameras with disadvantaged youth from Up On Top (@KidsUpOnTop) and even took a few photos with the cameras. We shot hoops and read books with fourth & fifth graders from DeMarillac Academy (@DemarillacSF), a school that services predominantly low-income youth in the Tenderloin. Finally, employees from our data science team worked with GLIDE (@glidesf) to streamline their data collection tools and improve their program outcomes. When all was said and done, over 520 employees pitched in to create meaningful and memorable outcomes for community partners throughout the city.

Toronto

@TwitterCanada partnered with Toronto city councillor Joe Cressy (@joe_cressy) to volunteer in two local parks, Gore Park and June Callwood Park located just steps from Twitter’s Toronto office. Two teams spent the day helping Toronto Parks and Recreation (@TorontoPFR) clean and clear their outdoor urban spaces.

The team also visited Cooper Koo YMCA (@YMCAGTA), which offers lots of activities to residents of the rapidly changing Canary District on the lakeshore in downtown Toronto. We spent the morning helping to spruce up the 30,000-square-foot green roof which has plants walkways, water features, seating and space for outdoor classes.

Washington, DC

@TwitterDC supported the International Rescue Committee (@theIRC) Refugee Youth Summer Academy by assembling 150 graduation kits filled with necessities needed for the upcoming school year, and hand-decorated congratulatory cards. The newly minted graduates come from the IRC’s six-week program designed to prepare refugees and asylee students for the upcoming school year through math and English lessons. Representatives from IRC were on-hand to share and inspire Tweeps with their mission and valuable work.

New York City

Twitter New York had 200 employees out in the community supporting 12 different organizations. Employees helped out at local schools, parks, and shelters, cleaning, organizing, and sharing life experiences with the local community. Partners included @NYCommonPantry, @GodsLoveNYC, @HenryStreet, @HighLineNYC, @ASASafterschool, @LeagueCenter, @LittlEssentials, @PS11PTA, @BestFriends, @sageusa, @Tuesdayschldrn, and @CitizensNYC.

Latin America

México City

Mexico City ranks as the city with the most street dogs in Latin America. Sadly, it also ranks as one of the places with the most animal cruelty in the region. For #TwitterForGood Day, @TwitterMexico partnered with AmorSinRaza (@AmorSinRaza) to help with much needed refurbishment work on the street dog shelter and the launch of an adoption campaign on Twitter.

São Paulo

Twitter Brazil volunteered at AACD (@AACD), an institution that provides care for children with physical disabilities since 1950. Brazilian tweeps helped to decorate a traditional party called Festa Junina, an event in which AACD raises funds for their work and gathers the community, all while providing fun moments for their patients.

We can’t wait for the next #TwitterForGood Day. Thank you to our Tweeps around the world for your commitment to our furthering our values and principles within your local communities.