Striving to change the world Community Sun

Sun's Employee Resource Network (ERN) is a community of employees supporting the work of Global Inclusion. Women@Sun is one group that is part of the ERN.  The West Coast chapter of Women@Sun sponsors events throughout the year to support community engagement, bringing members and Sun colleagues together in a fun and thoughtful way.  The group is currently looking for volunteers to help with a food sort on November 19, from 1 to 3.  Volunteers from throughout Sun will join together to sort donated food at Second Harvest's warehouse in San Carlos.  If you are a Sun employee and want to participate, go to Sun's internal volunteer tool to sign up.

Sun volunteers continuously give back to the community on a local and global basis.  Individuals and groups, like Women@Sun are the cornerstone of volunteering.  Be on the lookout for more community giving opportunities in the next few weeks.

Have you noticed the amount of stuff being thrown away recently in our Sun offices?  Perfectly good materials such as binders, manila folders, pens, mouse pads, swag.  The list goes on and on.  You have probably seen the piles in your building.  Once it leaves the office, you know where it goes....our landfills.

But what if we could change that?  What if we could recycle what our colleagues leave for trash.  Donate Sun swag to local nonprofits.  Organize all the paper for recycling.  Donate binders for school children to use. We need your help to do this!

A group of committed people at Sun are trying to make this happen.  Working with Facilities, we are trying to make recycling easy at Sun's large campuses.  Facilities will set out containers for employees to unload their office supplies.  Volunteers will then sort through these items determining what is salvageable.  This is where you come in!  We are seeking volunteers in Burlington, Santa Clara, Menlo Park and Broomfield to help on a weekly basis to sort through the items.  An hour a week will make a huge difference to our landfills as well as the not-for-profit beneficiaries that receive the goods.

If you are interested, please contact me.  Unfortunately this opportunity is for the Sun workforce only.  Just another way Sun is being a socially responsible company.

Here is what volunteer Gail Truman wrote about her volunteer experience:

My volunteer gig is all about saving the farm lands from development out here in the California SF Bay area. But in so doing I get to have tons of fun - visiting dairies, olive ranches, oyster farms (yumm!) and going hiking -- for free! Except for my time as a chaperone.

The Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) is a private, member-supported, nonprofit organization created in 1980 by a coalition of local ranchers and environmentalists to permanently preserve Marin County farmlands for agricultural use. MALT acquires agricultural conservation easements on farmland in voluntary transactions with landowners, and so far has permanently protected more than 40,500 acres of land on over 60 family farms and ranches.

MALT raises money and awareness in part by giving tours that the public (like you!) can sign up for. That's where volunteers come in. We work with the farmer/rancher who is giving the tour, to make sure everything runs smoothly on the day of the event. The attendees get a great insight into local farming, and us volunteers get to talk to them about MALT and generally enjoy the afternoon or morning.

If you're interested in taking your family to a farm, a hike, some hands-on learning about Urban farming - or  more - visit MALT.org and check out what's on offer. And please buy local, organic produce and meat; it all helps keep these farmers here. And their land for us to enjoy.

To Sun's SCA Employees: 

Have you noticed the amount of stuff your colleagues have been leaving in the trash as they clean their offices?  Binders, manila folders, pens, mouse pads, swag.  The list goes on and on.  You have probably seen the piles in your building.  Once it leaves the office, you know where it goes....our landfills.

But what if we could change that?  What if we could recycle what our colleagues leave for trash.  Donate old Sun swag to local nonprofits.  Organize all the paper for recycling.  Donate binders for school children to use. We need your help to do this!

A group of committed people at Sun are trying to make this happen at SCA.  Working with Facilities, we are trying to make recycling easy at Sun.  Facilities will set out containers at our major campuses for employees to unload their office supplies.  Volunteers will then sort through these items determining what is salvageable.  This is where you come in.  We are seeking a volunteer Team Manager in SCA to head up a small team of volunteers to help in the next month.  You will work with a representative from Facilities, and oversee volunteers one to four times a month to help sort through the items, doing easy tasks such as taking paper out of binders for recycling. 

Consider being a Team Manager for the Santa Clara campus.  Contact me for details.  And be on the look out for details on the initiative. 

The spirit of giving was abundant at Sun's Broomfield Campus' 2009 Summer Get Together, which was held on Thursday, August 20, 2009 and hosted by the Colorado Leadership Council. Over 1,000 employees gathered to celebrate summer and raise money for four local charities:

• The Community Food Share of Boulder collected close to 150 lbs of food and $60 in donations during the Get Together. The Community Food Share's mission is to ensure that no one in Boulder and Broomfield Counties goes hungry, and thanks to the generosity of the Broomfield Campus, we collected enough donations for 390 meals.

• The Gathering Place is Denver's only daytime drop-in center that exists to support woman and their children who are experiencing homelessness or poverty. It provides a safe daytime refuge and resources for self-sufficiency. During the Get Together, we collected various items for the center, including non-perishable items, personal supplies, and infant supplies; we also collected $50 in donations.

• Suit Yourself is a local, non-profit organization that assists students seeking employment by providing free career appropriate clothing. During the Get Together, we received a number of clothing items for this charity, including jackets, suits, dresses, and pants.

• The highlight of the Get Together was the Sun Swag Sale, which featured a wide range of Sun-branded memorabilia gathered from department storage closets across the Campus. Thanks to the folks who purchased these items, we raised a total of $2,700, which will be donated to the Community Services of Broomfield, a.k.a. FISH, a 24-hour volunteer service for Broomfield residents and transients. Our donation will help toward emergency food, housing, and transportation services.
  

The event would not have been possible without the help of our resident DJ, Tony Grosso, and our many volunteers:  Andy Senatore, Chaz the Mover & Team, Barry Richardson, James Wisnom, Gay Barwin, Esmeralda Bernal, Helen Bruckmeier, LaGina Figuero, Penny Harmon, Kendra Hosek, Jose Fuentes, Amanda Kean, Sally Lovato, Jen McVey, Jean Schultz, Diana Wadding, Christine Herrera, Mel Krueger, and Sharon Solvie.

Thanks to the Colorado Leadership Council for hosting such a great event!
Colorado Leadership Council: Kristy Feldkamp, Paula Dallabetta, Prentiss Donohue, Meg Heller, Joseph Kern, Mary Cay Kosten, Ken Martin, Kelly Morren, Anita Pedersen-Smith, Lynn Rohrer, Kristin Russell, Victor Walker, Christine Herrera

 

Here is yet another amazing example of how Sun employees are giving back to the community.  Donna Harland, from Florida, shared her story on what she is doing to help the turtle population:

I started volunteering in early July to help save the sea turtles from extinction.  I live in South Florida on the east coast and the mama turtles lay about 100 eggs in each nest on our sandy beaches.  When the turtles hatch about 45-55 days later, they are very confused by the lights of the condos, bars, sky glow and other light sources.  As a volunteer, I am allowed to handle these endangered little turtles and get them into the ocean when they disorient toward a light.

There are two parts of this.  One is to help the turtles.  I'm on the beach 5 nights a week from 8pm often until 3 or 4am.  So far, the small team I am on has saved over 2,700 of the over 6,000 that have hatched just on my 1 mile stretch.  We watch nests and walk a long stretch of soft sand between nests, helping the new hatchlings into the ocean.   The second part is to educate the public in how they can help by simply turning off lights, shutting drapes, encouraging their condo association to change illegal lighting and how to react to nesting turtles and baby turtles.

The sea turtles have been on the earth for 200 million years, pre-dating the dinosaurs.  It has taken man a very short time to just about kill off the sea turtle.  Once the turtle gets to the water, only 1 in 10,000 survive to nest laying age so it is critical we get as many there as possible.  These animals live to about 100 years old and they are a significant part of the reef and ocean ecosystem.  Without them, the reefs will die.

What's your story?  What are you doing to help change the world?  Share!

Here's an update on what Sun employees in Colorado are doing through Engineers Without Borders (EWB) to help bring technology to disadvantaged countries: 

- Arborloo Project (sub-project of the Togo Project) - Sun employees designed, produced, and translated materials to teach students and teachers how to use a compostable pit toilet. Other members of the EWB Denver Chapter created materials that describe how to construct and move the toilet, and a Sun employee also translated these documents into French.

- Sun employees have assisted with the art work and the translation of documentation.  Also the translator of our work, is assisting with other translations for the EWB Denver Chapter.

- Working in conjunction with the Denver Chapter to find our project niche, we became aware of a need for communications and translations solutions.  We have been researching various solutions that may work for the long term in Togo and other countries.

- We are working in conjunction with the Chicago EWB group to formulate a plan for the remote Togo village to acquire internet, with computers/laptops. The program is being presented to the village in August when the Chicago Chapter goes for the clean water system they are developing. The village will decide whether or not they want internet for the village, mainly for a learning aid. This involves talking with government officials, education people, and NGO's to try and get the internet service at reduced or no cost to the village. Once the village approves, we will become more involved to come up with the final solution (power, computers, routers, WIFI).

Taking IT Global provides resources and support to youth around the world, helping them give back to their communities.  They are growing by leaps and bounds.  Their website needs help and this is where you come in.  Volunteers knowledgeable in MySQL are needed to help this nonprofit organization upgrade their site and troubleshoot.  You can be located anywhere to assist this international agency.  This is a great way to use your skills to help a community organization.

Check out their site at  http://www.tigweb.org/  If you are interested in learning more about how you can help, send an email to mfurdyk@takingitglobal.org.  Come on!  Act now and help!

What makes a good blog?  That was what a social networking speaker was addressing in a session I attended yesterday.  Interesting question.  I had never thought of a blog as a good conversation.  One person doesn't make an exciting conversation!  The expert also suggested asking readers for advice.  What makes you read this blog?  What kind of topics would you like to see?  Only with input can one improve upon a blog.  (Isn't that the case with everything?)

So, provide your suggestions and comments!  And who wants to be a guest blogger?  Obviously the topic should be on target--helping the community.  Drop me an email or add your comments here.  Let's hear your stories!

Julie - Sun's Community Affairs Manager

I hope you can indulge me for a few minutes, with a personal post.  I had a feel good experience that I want to share.

A few weeks ago, I volunteered for what was named a Speed Pitching event, through Do Something.  Do Something is a nonprofit organization that supports youth giving back to the community.  The volunteer event in which I took part had me listen and ask questions of the youth pitching their ideas or projects to help change our world.  I met a 15 year old who is trying to replace toxic lead fishing lures that are contaminating our fish and waterways.  I heard about  a young woman that took the year off before college to travel to Nepal; she found her calling and built an orphanage and school to help Nepalese children.  The list goes on and on.  Bottom line: what these kids have accomplished so far is amazing.

Because I volunteered at that event, I was invited to attend Do Something's annual award ceremony.  This event was a teenager's dream filled with celebrities from the music and television industries.  Held in the historic Apollo Theater, the night included Usher, Akon, Sway, Lauren Bush and more.  (Yes I had to look these people up after I got home but from the audience squeals and shrieks, I could tell when someone important got on the stage.)  All of this was to celebrate the young people and "old people" that make a difference.  Maggie Doyne won the $100,000 prize to help her continue her work with children in Nepal.  Her story is truly inspirational as someone who has accomplished so much at such a young age.  Usher received one of the 5 "old people" awards for Celebs Gone Good.

If you know of a young person that wants to get involved and give back, have them check out www.dosomething.org.  Even "old people" should check it out to be inspired by everything these young people are doing in the community.

Here is an upcoming event for this Friday at Sun's Burlington, MA Campus.  Come learn more about FIRST, the FIRST Robotics Competition, Java + FIRST, and FIRST @ Sun.

This Friday, for Sun employees, we will have one or two FRC teams visiting the Burlington campus. They will show off their robots  - and you can learn about what FRC means to them, and about mentoring and volunteer opportunities that exist. Hear about Java on the FRC robots, and see one of the robots! 

Hear about how you can get involved and help.  Stop by the cafeteria at noon to learn more!  And have fun! 

Once again led by Team Manager Nina Mohler, Broomfield, Colorado's Legal Department participated in a volunteer project during Worldwide Volunteer Week.  The group spent several hours at Boulder County Parks and Open Space, helping to restore the forest.  Thanks go to Nina and her team for helping restore the ecology and beauty to this public land:

Julie Berryhill
Bill Mooz
Carrie Nicks
Melissa Haapala
Adriana Marrey
Phil Eck
John Ketchum

Sebastian led a cool project in CA during Sun's Worldwide Volunteer Week.  His team helped to fix up bikes for a bike exchange program.  Here is a picture of the group.  Under sunny skies, the team worked on bikes to help children and adults go green and ride bikes rather than cars, reducing emissions.  Great job team!

Sun employees in Texas did a cool, unique project.  Led by Leslie Keller, the team created and planted a garden at the local food bank.  How cool is that?  Not only will the garden provide food and beauty but it will also be used for education.  Although the garden is already producing herbs right now, check back in two months and there will be a bountiful harvest starting!  

Employees from Turkey participated in this year's Worldwide Volunteer Week.  The group cleaned up a school garden.  In addition to donating gardening supplies, they mulched, planted 400 trees and added flowers to the school grounds.