Sharing Talent, Technology, Time

Some people may think that managing Sun's Global Volunteer Program is a cool job.  And you know what, they're right!  Here's just a taste of what I do for work.

Today I have been focusing on two things: all the amazing things that Sun volunteers have done this past year, and how do we make the program even better.  Two completely separate items. 

As the fiscal year ends, it is time to reflect on what Sun employees around the globe have accomplished through volunteering.  There are the wonderful stories of local teams adopting a cause, a school, or a community center like Team Argentina and Team Bangalore, India.  Then there are the individual stories of employees donating countless hours to nonprofits, like Carla Morales in Colorado and Christina Carrier in the Bay Area.  So many people giving back to the local community.  I want to hear about them all!  If you are a Sun employee, drop me a line at Julie.Smith@sun.com

The other aspect of my day has been looking at improving the program as we get ready to start FY2009.  I have been compiling ideas, researching data and talking to folks.  Doing this gets me jazzed.  There is so much to do, so many ideas brewing.  Now's your chance.  Any ideas you want to share? 

This post is different from my typical ones but I just had to share.  I've said it before and will say it again, I'm so proud that Sun values giving back to the community.

We have an intern position open in our group:

Req #: 559064
Functional Area(s): Global Citizenship Communications and Outreach
Division: Sun Microsystems, Inc. Brand, Global Citizenship
Location: US—Near or around Menlo Park, CA
Job Role: Intern
Preferred Experience: College or Graduate Student

Brief Description: This individual is responsible for marketing Sun's Global Volunteer Program to the internal Sun community, as well as communicating volunteer accomplishments externally through blogs, Facebook, and other social media. Strong organizational, writing, and marketing skills are critical for this role.

Internship begins Spring 2008 and will last into Summer 2008.

Please submit your resume via the path outlined in the Req# link above if you are interested in being considered for the position we have open.

Last night, I went to a reception for the new President of The Hunger Project, a nonprofit organization that was a participant in Sun's Global Giving Drive.  At the end of last year, Sun employees helped to support this important cause.  No words can express the scope and depth of their work but the video may give you an idea.

http://www.thp.org/video/

Forgive me for jamming two separate posts into one.  So much info to share!

On March 26 at 9 am PT, we are offering a Team Manager training on Recruiting.  This is helpful for our upcoming Worldwide Volunteer Week.  Please RSVP to Julie.Smith@sun.com for the presentation.

Dial in: 866.545.5218
International: 865.544.7028
PC 9469177 

How do you combine Web 2.0 with volunteerism (during Worldwide Volunteer Week for example)?  How about training a classroom or community center via Second Life?  Or do an event via mebeam, which is basically a free, online video conference?  So many ideas!  Get thinking!  This is a great way to combine technology with a school or nonprofit, either near or far.  Need help?  Contact volunteersupport@sun.com

This month, Fortune Magazine released their 2008 Most Admired Companies, and Sun's true colors Shined. In the category of "Computer company" Sun ranked #5 on the most admired list! This is a great step forward in comparison to ranking only as a contender in 2007. The others on the list include:

1. Apple
2. IBM
3. Hewlett-Packard
4. Xerox
5. Sun Microsystems
6. Canon

There are other attributes that Fortune conducts rankings and Sun's scores improved in almost every one. The following are Sun's industry rankings:

Complete listings in the Computers category can be found at: http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/fortune/most_admired.jsp

In case you missed it, here's the replay info for the January 8th, Friends of the Foundation meeting

Dial-in: 877.471.6587 or 402.970.2667

Enter program ID 513478848027.

On December 7, 2007 a crane ship crashed into an oil tanker in the West Sea of Korea, leaking 10,900 tons of petroleum and contaminating the region of which inhabitants depend largely on an income from fishery and tour.  As many people stepped forward to voluntarily clean coast, employees of Sun Korea joined the volunteers rather than having a year-end holiday party.  About 100 employees and their families joined the effort to cleanse the shore of the hazardous toxins. The picture above shows the many Sun volunteers, but to learn more about Sun Korea's tremendous efforts, visit Sangpill Kim's Blog as well as join the January Friends of the Sun Foundation Community Meeting.  

Friends of the Sun Foundation Community Meeting - Dial details below:
=========================================

DATE:          Tuesday,  January 8, 2008
TIME:            8:00 a.m. US Pacific
PHONE:       866 651 9314   (Domestic)
                      865 525 0765   (International)
PCODE:       143 1449#

Dial-in Only. No physical location

=========================================

The Sun-Women Boston employee network concluded it's 2007 Holiday Gift Drives in Burlington and Nashua.
The enthusiasm and support of the entire local Sun community provided gifts valued ~$10,000 across the region!

Burlington Results - This was Sun's first drive for the Lowell Wish Project and was successfully managed by Michele Walker and Tricia Teixeira.

Sun employees shopped for and donated over 100 gifts for 30 families across the Merrimack Valley.  Thanks to everyone
who helped out with the sorting and packing so that the delivery could take place before the big snowstorm last Thursday!
Special thanks to Brenda Wells & Amanda Young & the LABBS students for helping to pack up & store the gifts on a daily basis. We are estimating that the value of the gifts donated to be ~$5000!

Nashua Results - This was Sun's 7th consecutive year of providing gifts for all of the residents of Nashua's Children's Home and was successfully managed by Sandy Belknap and Terri McClellan.

Gift bags with clothes, shoes and presents were provided to every one of the 44 residents of the NCH.  We also delivered bags filled with great games, videos, etc. for all of the kids to share! Thanks to everyone who pitched in to pack, sort, deliver and make sure that gifts from BUR found their way to NH last week.  Special thanks to Cindy Tello for her tireless efforts to help distribute tags and to store gifts throughout the  drive. We are estimating the value of the gifts donated to be over $5000!

VOLUNTEERS: Please Log your hours in the new Sun Volunteer tool.  You can log in the time you took to shop for your gifts, as well as the time you donated to help sort, pack and deliver.   Both drives are registered in the online tool.  Your volunteer hours are tracked for Sun's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report.

Both drives are still accepting monetary donations and qualify for Sun Gift Match Funds.
Donate to the Lowell Wish Project.(Paypal)
Donate to Nashua's Children's Home. (select 'Donate Now' from the left Navbar)
Submit an Gift Match from the the Sun Foundation. (Link Goes Directly to Online Form)
Reminder: Sun Microsystems Global Giving Drive is open thru the end of the month.

Thanks for your support and generosity & Happy Holidays!
-The Women@Sun-Boston Network

Pictures from Delivery Days Last Week:

Michele Walker and Queida Davis in Burlington

Santa Larry Grant, Terri McClellan & Cindy Tello in Nashua
 

Do you know how much Sun employees donated in the 2006 Annual Global Giving drive? 

Take the quiz and make your guess on SunWeb.  Once you're shocked by the answer - go to Global Giving Drive and make your donation today...it's not too late!

Ten worthy organizations were chosen as beneficiaries of the Drive with the help of Sun volunteers and members of the Friends of the Sun Foundation community in Facebook, which we welcome you to join. 

The beneficiary organizations fill a specific need in the community, on a large scale.  Here are examples of some of the work these organizations are doing:

• The Hunger Project is working in India to promote health, education, nutrition and family income.
• Mercy Corps is educating orphans in China.
• Engineers Without Borders is working in Ghana to provide affordable access to the Internet.
• Direct Relief International provides medical assistance to countries like Peru, particularly as a result of disasters.
• Architecture for Humanity's Open Architecture Network is building sports facilities at African schools to bring together the positive aspects of sports with an innovative HIV/AIDS health outreach program. 

On July 18, members of Sun microsystems' NJ/NY Black Employee Network (BEN) hosted their second site visit from the NJ Governor's School of Engineering and Technology Program in the Somerset, New Jersey office. The program is focused on the fields of engineering, information technology and technology, and works with high school students that are generally in the top 2% of their class.

Approximately 30 Sun volunteers came together to host this interactive day of learning for 90 students.  Students had the unique opportunity to hear from various Sun employees on issues ranging from StarOffice, Network.com, Eco-Repsonsibility, and future career paths available to the students.

At the end of the day, the students were each challenged to enter a Network.com contest in which participants were to provide an automated solution to a problem that runs on the Sun Grid Compute Utility. Submissions were due by August 31, at which time the judges ran each submission, and the finalists to solve the problem with the least amount of CPU-time and the least amount of wall-clock time won an 80GB ipod.

Sun Microsystems thanks all participants for their submissions, and is excited to announce the winners of the “Network.Com Contest for 2007 Governor's School of Engineering & Technology Program” contest. 

Five of the total submissions computed the correct result in approximately the same amount of time, earning a five-way tie for “Category A: A valid solution computed with the least amount of CPU time consumed”.

The five first place winners are (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Christopher Camastra

• Phillip DiSanto

• Anthony Hsu

• Anthony Leontiev

• David Vetrano

Congratulations to all the winners!

There are many words to describe them
………..dedicated….tireless….committed…selfless…inspirational

These are our volunteers, the heart and soul of the Nation!  We at Sun have been recognizing their work, but now we want you to share your stories about your special volunteers with the us and the Point of Light Organization. Not only will the volunteers be considered for the prestigious Daily Point of Light Award, which recognizes the Nation’s Volunteer of the Day, they will also have the opportunity to be featured on the President’s Volunteer Service Award website.

So please take 5-10 minutes and think about what is special about a volunteer you know and what impact they’ve had on the community.  Then draft one or two paragraphs about their story of service and send it to us at volunteersupport@sun.com so we can honor their service and inspire others to create community change.  

Please send your volunteer’s story to volunteersupport@sun.com no later than Friday, October 26th.  Please put “Story of Service-Volunteer's Name” in the subject field and be sure to include your name, organizational affiliation, if applicable and your contact information.

(feel free to tell us about more than one volunteer, but please put them in separate emails)

The numbers are in, and the proof is in the pudding...Sun Volunteers are remarkable!

This year, Sun's Back to School Campaign in the bay area provided 177 backpacks, 17 volunteers, $1,222.16 in monetary donations and $1,681.36 from online donations.  For every $50 donation Family Giving Tree received from our employees, they added 1 backpack to our total to calculate awards.

Congratulations to team leaders and volunteers.
Your accomplishments are outstanding and you should be proud!

Mission: Global Giving Drive Nominations 

Here is your chance to make a real difference at Sun!  As in past years, Sun will offer a Global Giving Drive to be launchined November and run through the end of the year.  We are inviting the entire community to nominate their favorite charities to be one of the beneficiaries of Sun's Global Giving Drive.  Ten nonprofit organizations from around the world will benefit from the online drive that last year raised over US$70,000 (not including the Sun match!)   

Task: To nominate a Charity, please post the organization's name as well as up to a 200 word description of it on the Friends of the Foundation community on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=5154086445&topic=3397.  You may consider including the Organization's website, its mission, its client base, etc.

Deadline: Nominations will be accepted until October 24, then Sun Foundation Ambassadors will choose the final 10 organizations, with at least 4 organizations to have an international reach.

Past Participants From Around the World

Sun has published the fiscal 2007 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, Idea(l)s and Action. The CSR report is a significant channel that allows Sun to be transparent about progress on key social and environmental initiatives.  When reading their outstanding work, make sure to also click on the Global Citizenship tab to see an overview of what the department has acheived over the last year. Among the work accomplished, West Dallas is a demonstration of the way employees unite to give back to their communities while also contributing to Sun's corporate responsibility goals.