In Vancouver’s Inner-City, B.O.B. (Building Opportunities through Business) is  regenerating businesses, restoring historical architecture and rebuilding individual lives. Unlike traditional charities, B.O.B. shares tools and resources that allow people to help themselves.

FROGBOX recently employed an awesome employee from B.O.B.’s Supported Employment Program. Ty is now a member of the FROGBOX team, who is a hard worker with a great sense of humour. He cleans our moving boxes in the warehouse, which is an essential contribution. Rather than relying on services to support him, Ty has been given the opportunity to work and thrive. We highly recommend this program to other businesses. It is a wonderful way to support the regeneration of Vancouver’s Inner-City.  We wish that we had programs like this in Seattle and Toronto, the other cities where we offer eco friendly moving boxes!

Building Opportunities with Business (BOB) was created in 2005 as a comprehensive community economic development organization to deliver a variety of employment and business development programs. One of its biggest roles was in overseeing the city’s first major community benefits agreement, which facilitated nearly $50 million dollars in purchases from inner-city businesses and saw 120 residents from the inner-city receive training and work both related to the construction of the Winter Olympic Athletes Village.

B.O.B's office on East Pender

“By working with local training and employment organizations, government and the communities at work here…B.O.B. has always strived to be a connector, resource, and facilitator for businesses and individuals in the inner-city” says CEO Dr. Shirley Chan. In the past five years BOB has established itself as just that, but not without some bumps and bruises along the way. Now that the five year pilot program agreed to in 2005 is over, BOB has received a funding extension which gives it another year or so of capacity at its current operational level, but the future of the organization remains in question.

The city of Vancouver is no stranger to this movement, seeing a multitude of local businesses embrace this movement and take initiative to lead the movement. Now we will see this movement advance into the city of Surrey with the event, Sustainability: A Green Affair [SAGA]. This student-run sustainability fair will take place on July 20^th, 2010 from 11 to 4 PM, in the SFU Surrey Mezzanine within the Surrey Central complex.

The event features local forward-thinking companies, such as FROGBOX (www.frogbox.com) a Vancouver based start-up that rents re-usable moving boxes and moving supplies in Vancouver, Seattle and Toronto.  FROGBOX and other will showcase their eco-products and the sustainable practices they’ve undertaken in their company and in the community. They will help educate visitors on environmentally-friendly options for every-day activities and on how to collectively impact the environment.

Hoping to inspire greener and healthier choices, the fair is free to all and is easily accessible with the Surrey Central Skytrain Station only moments away. In addition, each participant has a chance to win a fantastic raffle prize, which includes a BBQ set from Terasen Gas, Gift baskets and coupons from many others.

For more information regarding the event, please visit our website www.agreenaffair.ca.

The fair will be held on
July 20, 2010, 11am – 4pm
Simon Fraser University, Surrey Campus (Google Map)
Main Mezzanine
250 – 13450 – 102nd Avenue
Surrey, British Columbia
V3T 0A3

For a giant company everyone in the building, even the loading dock master, were very friendly and approachable. Pretty amazing offices; they have an across Canada theme with St. John’s Newfoundland represented by a lighthouse built into the offices in the east, and a true British Columbian log cabin built in the west side of the office.

We didn’t realize that Google is so passionate about environmental responsibility!  Their office is an amazing example of how a company can combine low environmental impact design with a relaxed working environment.  From their use of low impact lighting systems to the use of recycled and reclaimed materials every aspect of the office was carefully designed.  We’re glad to see that Google knows cardboard moving boxes are a waste of time, money and paper when they are moving. Thanks for using FROGBOX Google!

www.frogbox.com

CHICAGO, April 19 /PRNewswire/ — As the first-ever winner of The Leos award, FROGBOX, a provider of eco-friendly plastic moving boxes, hopes to leap to the next level of business success by changing the way people move their household belongings.  The Leos award is sponsored jointly by Leo Burnett USA and the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, a global network of small business owners and was created to provide strategic and creative services to a deserving up-and-coming company.

“Young, dynamic companies like FROGBOX have been, and will be, an important part of the world’s economic recovery,” says Rich Stoddart, president of Leo Burnett USA.  ”We can help a new company like FROGBOX, with a great idea, to grow by changing consumer behavior just as we have done for other innovative brands like McDonald’s, Kellogg, Allstate, and Nintendo.”

Chosen as the winner from among more than 80 small companies across the United States and Canada, FROGBOX will work closely with a specially chosen team of planners and creatives from Leo Burnett USA to bring the company’s vision to life.  Jeff Hill, FROGBOX partner and chief operating officer, hopes to begin his work with Team Leo to expand his company’s online presence.  ”Most people first turn to the Internet when planning a move and many people simply don’t know that there are environmentally favorable alternatives to traditional cardboard moving boxes,” Hill says. “I was thrilled to have won The Leos award and look forward to developing a strategy to get our message out and literally change the way people move their household goods.”

Serving Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto and their surrounding areas, FROGBOX was founded in 2008 to rent out reusable eco-friendly plastic moving boxes that can be used up to 400 times each, saving people the time and effort of collecting and disposing of cardboard boxes while lessening the impact of those boxes on the environment at the same time.

“We know that creativity has the power to transform human behavior,” says Susan Credle, chief creative officer of Leo Burnett USA. “The combination of FROBOX’s simple and powerful business idea and our Humankind approach to marketing will help make FROGBOX a household name in the moving category.”

About Leo Burnett Company Inc.

Leo Burnett Company Inc. is one of the world’s largest agency networks and the parent company of Leo Burnett and its marketing services arm, Arc. Leo Burnett is a HumanKind communications company. Our approach is simple and singular: we put a brand’s purpose at the center of our communications in order to truly connect with people. Then, we activate this human purpose to create what we refer to as “Acts, not just Ads.” In doing so, we make a life-long meaningful relationship between people and brands.

We believe when you create value, you create value for your clients. That’s why an impressive number of the world’s most valuable brands, including The Coca-Cola Company, Kellogg, McDonald’s, Hallmark, Allstate, Walgreens, Procter & Gamble and Nintendo work with Leo Burnett. Clients share our purpose-centered approach and, like us, they know that agencies don’t create great brands. People do.

About FROGBOX

FROGBOX Inc. (http://www.frogbox.com) is a North American leader in low environmental impact moving supplies.  FROGBOX delivers a convenient, affordable and eco-friendly alternative to traditional moving boxes and moving supplies.  Our mission is simple: we want to minimize the stress of moving on our customers and the Earth.  FROGBOX currently operates in Vancouver, Seattle and Toronto but we are expanding across North America.  Call 1-877-FROGBOX for more information.

For the second year in a row Todd is riding his unicycle in the 200KM Ride to Conquer Cancer!  FROGBOX is proud to help sponsor Todd’s goal to raise $3,200 for the race.  2 out of 5 North American’s will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime but research has helped the survival rate tremendously.  However there is much more research to be done so if you’d like to help Todd reach his goal and also help conquer cancer please go to Todd’s site and donate -every little bit helps.  http://is.gd/bxBMH

It’s always refreshing when we run across a business that has a Corporate Social Responsibility Plan and actually lives what it states.  YYoga (www.yyoga.ca) is a Vancouver based group of yoga centres whose mantra is ‘Our environment includes the planet’.  They strive to live that mantra in everything they do.  From the extensive use of bamboo in the construction of their studios to using Natureclean products (www.naturecleanliving.com) to clean their studios they always do what is best for the environment.  Recently,  FROGBOX had the privilege of helping YYOGA reduce the environmental impact of an office  move by providing FROGBOX moving boxes and moving supplies.  We’d like to thank YYOGA for making Vancouver a healthier city in more ways than one!

1. Think about what’s most important to you price or service –while there are some companies that offer a good mix you do need to choose.
2. Get a referral from friends –ask more than one and make sure they were moving similar goods as you.
3. Check Internet sites but review with caution –some movers spend a lot of time creating fake reviews of their service or even creating bogus mover review sites.

If you’re moving in a city that we operate in and would like a recommendation you can email info@frogbox.com!