This year has made us more deeply appreciate our outdoor spaces — and it's transformed in-person gatherings into a rare, celebratory event. Our company volunteer day was a happy combination of the two: A chance to band together (safely!) to beautify an iconic Boston waterway.

ALM Works' Boston team members masked up and assembled on Oct. 23 near the Muddy River, teaming up with the Muddy Water Initiative and Keep Massachusetts Beautiful. We gathered debris that had been scattered along the banks, removing water-clogging junk and pollutants.

Its name may not sound all that pretty, but the Muddy River is a much-loved part of the area. The section of the river that we cleaned flows outward from the Fens — part of the Fenway neighborhood in Boston — toward the Charles River. As part of the city's famous "Emerald Necklace" series of parks, it's an essential piece of the natural environment amid a dense urban area. In only a few hours' time, we collected 14 bags of garbage.

This work was part of our Pledge 1% commitment. ALM Works, along with Atlassian and many fellow app vendors, is part of the corporate philanthropy movement that pledges to donate the following to charity:

• One percent of equity
• One percent of profits
• One percent of employees' time
• One percent of the product to nonprofits or companies that provide social benefits

Both Keep Massachusetts Beautiful and the Muddy Water Initiative are dedicated to removing trash pollution from the natural environment. Keep Massachusetts Beautiful coordinates with its sister organizations — such as the Muddy Water Initiative — to provide businesses like ours with opportunities to help. In addition to cleanup of the banks, the Muddy Water Initiative carries out projects to clean debris from the water itself before it flows into the Charles River and on to Boston Harbor.

We were proud to help these worthy organizations, and happy to find a covid-safe way to work as a team.