Avison Young’s Vancouver team spilled blood, sweat, but reportedly no tears, in a monumental effort last Thursday at the YWCA Alder Gardens housing project that saw the construction of a gate and vegetable garden boxes, and the weeding and power-washing of the grounds, part of Avison Young's Global Day of Giving. Employees in AY's 60 offices across Canada, the US and Europe spent the day taking part in volunteer projects and philanthropic activities.

“It was a massive job,” says Robert Gritten (back to the camera), who heads up AY’s philanthropy group. AY brought 50 people, joined by members from Tricor Pacific, the firm’s sole external investor. The grounds at Alder Gardens, a supportive housing community for single mothers and their children, had grown "ugly" he explains, so his team went to work weeding and laying down a truckload of bark mulch. A few of the mothers residing at the facility also pitched in.