This year, during our Global Month of Volunteering, more than 134,000 Amazon team members rolled up their sleeves to support their local communities, setting a new company record. From stocking food banks and mentoring students to cleaning beaches and building homes, volunteers transformed their passion into impact.
Teams across 55 countries brought their energy and expertise to support more than 2,500 organisations worldwide. “What makes this initiative truly special is that most events are driven by employees themselves: They identify needs, collaborate with local nonprofits to organise activities, and rally their teams to help,” said Alice Shobe, global director of Amazon Community Impact. “It’s incredible what we can do when we combine our scale with our employees’ passion for making a difference.”
While Global Month of Volunteering provides a focused opportunity to serve together, our spirit of volunteering isn’t limited to only May. Throughout the year, Amazon employees find creative ways to support their communities. Take our recent collaboration with Comic Relief in the UK, where employees turned their workplaces into hubs of fundraising activity, joining forces with customers and community organisations to raise £2.2 million for people facing tough times.
From Madrid to Munich, here are nine ways in which Amazon volunteers teamed up with community organisations to make our Global Month of Volunteering the most impactful yet.
Germany: Garden project unites generations in Munich
Amazon volunteers spent a meaningful morning at the Römerschanz retirement and care home in Munich, where they worked alongside residents to revitalise the facility’s garden. Fourteen team members devoted their time to planting new greenery, restoring garden furniture, and engaging with elderly residents through conversations and games. “We spent the morning working together, listening, and laughing while creating a more beautiful garden space for the residents,” said Florian Mair, managing director at Amazon Fashion & Sports Europe. “What I’ll remember most are the great conversations with the residents and the realisation of how valuable cohesion and commitment are in the community. A wonderful morning full of happy faces, memories, and stories.”
Luxembourg - 22,000 hygiene kits for Europe’s most vulnerable
His Royal Highness Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Minister of Economy Lex Delles joined Amazon volunteers in Luxembourg to help assemble hygiene kits for displaced communities across Europe. Alongside vice president of EU Stores Mariangela Marseglia and local Amazon team members, the two special guests packed essential supplies that will be provided to vulnerable individuals, including refugees and asylum seekers who have fled conflicts in Ukraine, North Africa, and the Middle East. The initiative provided over 22,000 hygiene kits to those living in temporary accommodations, with a focus on women, children, elderly persons, and individuals with disabilities. Working with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and other organisations, the kits are distributed across Spain, Italy, and Romania.
Poland - Bearing love: Comforting kids in Warsaw
Amazon volunteers in Poland came together to create special gifts for children at the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw. On May 28, offices transformed into creative workshops where Amazon team members and their families decorated teddy bears with personal touches and thoughtful messages, each crafted with a specific young patient in mind. The plush toys were delivered to the hospital two days later, bringing smiles to the children’s faces.
This is part of our ongoing community engagement in Poland, where Amazon also supports youth education through initiatives like STEM Kindloteka, a network of 107 educational facilities that have already helped more than 500,000 young Poles access hands-on learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
USA: Revitalising Seattle’s green spaces
Hundreds of Amazon volunteers in the Puget Sound area took to local parks and neighborhoods to spruce up the communities where we live and work during Global Month of Volunteering. At Cascade Park and Playfield near the Seattle campus, the team joined Seattle Parks Foundation and put their landscaping skills to work removing weeds, picking up litter, and spreading mulch to prepare the park for summer visitors. “Amazon volunteers make a tremendous impact on our public spaces by helping maintain these valuable community resources,” said Rebecca Bear, president and CEO of Seattle Parks Foundation. “Their hands-on work ensures our parks remain welcoming places where neighbors can gather and children can play. These volunteer efforts demonstrate how companies and employees can meaningfully contribute to the communities where they live and work.”
India: Planting natural filters in Siddheshwar Lake
With their hands in the mud and eyes on the future, volunteers came together at Siddheshwar Lake in Thane to create floating wetlands: innovative platforms that help restore urban lake ecosystems. The team assembled floating platforms and planted Canna indica, a resilient aquatic plant whose extensive root system naturally filters pollutants while providing habitat for aquatic organisms. These engineered wetlands act as nature’s water purification systems, helping restore ecological balance in urban waterways affected by pollution and development. The initiative is part of Amazon’s broader environmental restoration efforts in India, where similar projects in Bengaluru and Hyderabad have engaged thousands of volunteers throughout the year across multiple cities.
Australia: 14,000 sandwiches strong: Fighting student hunger
Amazon Australia teams rolled up their sleeves to tackle childhood hunger, one sandwich at a time. Working alongside charity Eat Up, teams across the country came together for 14 sandwich-making events, crafting over 14,000 sandwiches for kids who would otherwise go hungry at school. “Amazon is our largest corporate sandwich-making supporter, and their dedication is an inspiring example of what corporate leadership with heart looks like,” shared Eat Up founder Lyndon Galea. “Supercharging their efforts during their Global Month of Volunteering is helping feed hungry kids in schools across the country while also bringing their teams together in a hands-on, meaningful way.”
Brazil: A fresh start in a São Paulo favela
Amazon volunteers joined forces with Instituto Fazendinhando, a nonprofit transforming lives in São Paulo’s Jardim Colombo favela. Founded by social architect Ester Carro, who grew up in the community, the organisation focuses on renovating living spaces and training local residents, particularly women, in construction skills, creating both improved homes and new income opportunities.
In May, 15 Amazon volunteers worked alongside the institute to revitalise a narrow alley connected to a home renovation project. The team painted walls and floors, while local residents, hired through the project, completed the plastering work. Amazon employee and visual artist Lukas Ribeiro added to the transformation by creating a meaningful mural representing the community’s ongoing journey for recognition.
Japan: 200+ blood donors roll up their sleeves in Tokyo
More than 200 team members at the Meguro office in Tokyo participated in the latest Amazon blood-donation drive, organised in collaboration with the Japanese Red Cross Society. “Giving blood was a first for me. All the Red Cross staff and Amazon volunteers were very helpful, which made me feel very relaxed,” said one participant. The initiative began in 2022 and gathered 2,000 participants last year across Amazon Japan’s offices, fulfilment centres, and delivery stations.
According to the Red Cross, these annual blood-drive contributions amount to 10% of the necessary blood supply for any given day, making a vital difference during Japan’s ongoing blood shortage since the COVID-19 pandemic. Encouraged by these results, organisers aim to double our impact by the end of this year to 4,000 people.
