Striving to change the world Community Sun

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).