Holiday parties this year could entertain a company’s employees, celebrate its successes and enhance its corporate image all at the same time using a newly developed resource aptly called Events With Purpose.

This service, created by San Diego businesses VolunTours and PGI, designs events that add a volunteer component to an activity planned for other purposes as well. By combining what each does best, the two companies can help event planners get the most possible out of a corporate activity.

Many corporations are struggling to maintain their reputations in light of national corporate scandals, says David Clemmons, founding partner of Downtown’s VolunTours. They are seeking ways to give back to the community, and Events With Purpose is one tool available to them.

PGI specializes in all aspects of event planning and coordination, or as Clemmons says, “all the bells and whistles” that make an event more successful. VolunTours creates community service projects for local businesses and frequently develops projects for corporations here for conventions.

For example, Clemmons says, when the American Association of Health Plans met in San Diego in June, 300 or so of the 2,000 delegates participated in a City Heights health screening event. That volunteer effort, coordinated as part of convention activity, found 48 people with previously undiagnosed conditions, Clemmons says.

Another example Clemmons cites is a recent Qualcomm employee project. Volunteers adopted a neighborhood and identified six specific activities that could help improve it. The 300 participating employees divided themselves into groups to clean playground equipment, create flower boxes, build bicycles for the Girls and Boys Club, and rehab a Head Start building and a neighborhood library.

Clemmons, working with Marcia Bradley, g.m. for PGI, says a customized event can be created for almost any business no matter how many or how few employees. Events With Purpose can help companies with vague ideas about an appropriate project select an organization or cause that matches the company’s mission.

For more information, call either company or visit their Web sites: Bradley at PGI, (619) 276-7800, Ext. 132; www.pgi.com; Clemmons at VolunTours, (619) 497-5441, Ext. 244; www.sandiegovoluntours.com.