The Gildan activewear manufacturing plant has sent 400 employee volunteers to the Parque Ecologico de San Luis to plant 3,200 Dominican mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni), saman (Samanea saman) and ceiba trees. Dominican mahogany, the national tree, can grow to a height of 30 meters with a 10-meter diameter.
This is the sixth planting activity organized by the manufacturers.
The Deputy Minister of Forestry at the Ministry of Environment, engineer Manuel Serrano, was present during the event.
The company said that the initiative was an opportunity to promote awareness about the importance of protecting the environment. The initiative benefits the communities of San Luis, Bayaguana and Monte Plata in Monte Plata province in the south-central region of the country. Over the past six years, company volunteers have planted more than 20,000 trees.
Gildan Activewear is a leader in sportswear in the US and Canada. It began operations in the Dominican Republic in 2004 and since then has expanded its operations. It employs more than 2,200 people and makes exports of about $400 million a year from the country.
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