Sharing Talent, Technology, Time

Eighty high school students and 14 staff members came to the NY Sun office to spend the day.  The students were treated to a full day of learning about Sun, technology and career paths.  Dynamic speakers like Brian Cleary, Fay Salwen and Isaac Rozenfeld dazzled the students.  Those were only some of the super stars that came out to support the event.  The whole NYC office got into the day as the students infiltrated the office.

The students had 9 learning sessions and a working lunch.  They were able to pick their lunchtime session, which included "Confessions of a Former Techie" and "Social Networking."  They interacted with employees in between sessions, learning from their Sun Team Captains who stayed with them the whole day.  The day concluded with a closing session by a former and current intern.  The students had a lot of questions on how to become a Sun intern/employee.  We'll see some of these kids again! ; )

Although all the participants should be recognized, a special thank you should go to Shari Czar, Robin Goldfarb Wilensky, Diane Mathis, and Wayne Abbott. 

(Pictured here are some of the students getting a peek at the servers in the lab.)

The kids had a great day, as did the volunteers!

 

Check out Gilda Garreton on Headline News on Sun.com.  She talks about her Worldwide Volunteer Week project using Wonderland to link students in California with students in Chile.

http://www.sun.com/home-modules/media/k5_070908.html

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.

It's not everyday that Sun volunteers make an appearance on TV.  But yesterday was a day for them to shine!  Volunteer Barbara Moran spearheaded the effort to get employees to Eldora Mountain to showcase the Eldora Special Recreation Program.  This program works with special needs people to give them the ability to participate in snow sports.  Al Roker gave away oodles to the program to help them continue to meet this community need.  You can also check out the video.

Amazed might not be the right word.  Humbled?  Awestruck?  Sun volunteers continue to amaze and humble me.  Team Managers around the world are leading volunteer projects, giving back to the local community and engaging Sun volunteers:

Scott in the California Bay Area is leading a team at the Humane Society on April 29.  Sprucing up the facility for all the homeless pets that need adopting.

In New Jersey, Diane is leading volunteers for a mentoring program.  Mentors will work with girls between the ages of 12 and 18.

In New York City, volunteers, including myself, will help at Baby Buggy, an organization that provides baby supplies for low income families.

 

And there's more.  In a couple of weeks, we will share pictures from all of these great projects.  Then you will get to see the impact that Worldwide Volunteer Week has on so many people around the globe.

Sun is on fire!  We have so many great projects taking place during Worldwide Volunteer Week. (Did I mention it is April 26-May 4?)  We are still a few weeks away but we have at least 60 volunteer projects listed in our internal volunteer tool.  (Did I mention sixty?!)  Here's a sampling of projects that could use more volunteers:

 In the Bay Area, volunteers will be helping a bike race on May 3.

On April 30, volunteers from MA will be doing a spring clean up for a local school.

Virtually, Sun employees will meet on April 30 to discuss creating a chess program for kids.

Don't you get those warm fuzzy feelings?

How cool is it that Sun volunteers all over the world will be volunteering during Worldwide Volunteer Week?  

The latest project idea for a team of Sun volunteers located anywhere, is to collaborate with a local school to teach kids about different careers, interviewing, filming, and editing.  This is a cool project in which kids and volunteers work hand in hand.  Interested?  Contact Julie.Smith@sun.com for more info on CareerBytes.

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

Let me take this opportunity to give you some ideas on potential projects for Sun's 14th annual Worldwide Volunteer Week.  These ideas are so cool; I just know that teams around the world are going to snap them up.

Science Buddies is a nonprofit organization that helps engage youth in science and engineering.  The common theme running among all Science Buddies programs is the goal of identifying specific student needs (e.g. "I need help selecting a topic for my project") and creating solutions (not just reading material) that actively engage students and scientific professionals.  They have two project ideas for Worldwide Volunteer Week.

The first is to write an article on a pre-chosen topic to help spark a young person's interest in science or engineering.  Science Buddies has a guide in place for you to create your article.  You can work on this project with your local team or create a virtual team.  Your work will be seen by thousands of students each year..

The second project is to help test projects.  Your team of up to 5 people will follow the instructions provided to put together a project, just as a student would!  Your job is quality assurance to make sure the article is easy to understand and that the experiment is accurate.

Imagine the fun and impact in these two projects.  Consider having a project with Science Buddies during Worldwide Volunteer Week or any other time. 

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:

Key Attributes	Rank
Innovation	2
People management	4
Use of corporate assets	5
Social responsibility	3
Quality of management	5
Financial soundness	8
Long-term investment	7
Quality of products/services	6

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

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

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

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!

   

  

    

 

 

Big time congrats to the Sun Labs team for mobilizing an amazing turn-out from organizations across the company in support of Silicon Valley Heart Walk 2007 yesterday.

Sun walkers, donors and supporters were about 200 all together. They turned out (in comfortable walking shoes and/or in spirit) to participate in the Silicon Valley Heart Walk 2007 by the American Heart Association. The Heart Walk was held yesterday held this Sunday morning, 16 September at De Anza in Cupertino

CTO Greg Papadopoulos was a key leader in making this happen as was Sun Labs hot-shot Katy Dickinson. I found out about it from my Facebook friend (and Sun colleague) Geetha Vallabhaneni.

The Sun team raised $9,957.  This total does not include Sun's matching funds.

Every gift made by a Sun employee is eligible to receive a dollar-for-dollar matching grant from the Sun Foundation up to $1,000 per employee per year.

Great job team! You make me proud to work here.

Mary

Images Copyright 2007 by Sheri Kaneshiro and John Plocher