On a cold winter’s day, StorageMart site managers Alice and Mas Hayashida stumbled upon nearly 200 Trumpeter Swans sitting atop the ice of Lake Ontario. Awestruck by the beauty of the flock, the pair’s interest in bird watching and conservation has grown over the years into a full blown passion that attracted our attention to a very worthy community cause.
Conservation of the lands that our feathered friends call home is incredibly important. According to a recent study, 37% of birds in North America are in crisis and in need of urgent conservation action to protect their habitats and populations.
Helping Hands
Thankfully, organizations like The Great Canadian Birdathon and Bird Studies Canada are stepping in. Not only do they raise funds for these efforts, they spread awareness amongst the public and grow educational opportunities for kids and adults alike while bringing together the bird watching community to help collect invaluable data on population and migration trends.
As avid birdwatchers and Bird Studies Canada members, Alice and Mas jumped at the chance to raise funds during the annual Birdathon. “As birds are our passion, I realized you can’t leave the fundraising to someone else. I have such a great bunch of customers who support great causes and a lot of them are into birds and conservation as well.
The pair set up a modest $1.00 charity table and were able to collect an impressive $500.00 in the process. “I talked to so many clients one on one – they all had a bird story to tell and made a donation.” Service is one of our core values here at StorageMart, not just to our customers, but the communities we live and work in. With this in mind we were happy to match funds for a total of $1,000 raised.
Our employee’s dedication to their customers and communities sets us apart in Burlington and all across North America and the U.K. so we wanted to take a moment to commend Alice and Mas for living our values every day- we’re truly proud to have them as a part of our StorageMart family!
For more on Bird Studies Canada and the Great Canadian Birdathon, visit their website at www.birdstudiescanada.org.