In May, thousands of Invitrogen Corp. employees traded their lab coats and suits for a new uniform, one that included jeans, tennis shoes and red tee-shirts. The Carlsbad-based life science technology company hosted the annual Global Volunteer Day, and challenged employees around the world to get involved in the communities where they live and work.

At the Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad, hundreds of Invitrogen employees worked to clean up the lagoon and its trail.

“We call it passionate people making a difference,” said Kip Miller, honorary chairman of the event and senior vice president of bio-discovery at Invitrogen.

Miller spent his morning pulling weeds and hauling away non-native plants.

“We care about human health, furthering discovery and the environment that we work and play in,” Miller said.

More than 7,500 volunteer hours were logged in the worldwide effort, which included groups of employees from locations in China, New Zealand and Oregon, among others.

In addition to restoring the lagoon's habitat, Carlsbad-based volunteers worked to clean-up the Audubon Society in Vista, made sandwiches at the Interfaith Community Services, repaired the animal shelter at Camp Pendleton.

“They work so good and so fast its hard to keep up,” said Fred Sandquist, presidents and board member of the Batiquitos Lagoon Foundation.

Trucks hauling non-native plants and large fallen branches traversed the lagoon's trail throughout the morning.

Each of Invitrogen's 4,300 employees are provided with five hours of paid time to participate in the volunteer projects.

“I think its a great, great thing for us. It's sort of a team-building thing,” said James Caffrey, general manager for bioinformatics at Invitrogen.

For many employees, the annual event is a time to meet others within the company that they would otherwise not cross paths with.

“I have fun but its definitely hard work,” Caffrey said.

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