Dell Supports Employee Volunteerism With Donations To Charities Around The Globe

The Dell Foundation recently awarded more than $150,000 to charities worldwide as part of the company’s annual volunteer recognition program. Non-profit organizations from more than a dozen countries received cash contributions in recognition of the hands-on contributions of Dell employees.

• Dell’s annual “Volunteers of Distinction” program recognizes employees chosen from a pool of global nominations submitted by employees. The Dell Foundation awards cash grants to the charities for which the winning employee or team of employees volunteered.
• The Volunteers of Distinction program is one aspect of Dell’s effort to support employees who contribute positively in the communities where they work and live. One Dell: One Community efforts also include Global Community Involvement Month and matching grants for qualified employee donations to non-profit organizations.
• The donations benefit nearly 100 global charities representing a range of sizes and social causes. For example, the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands was founded to help low-income people gain equal access to justice when they have nowhere else to turn. The society provides individual legal representation free of charge through eight offices serving 48 counties.
• Dell employees Ciaran Crotty, John Quaid, and Tony Bedford in Limerick, Ireland, were recognized as Team Volunteers of Distinction for their work with Chernobyl Children’s Project International. The organization develops, facilitates, and affects long-term sustainable community-based solutions and provides effective medical and humanitarian assistance to the victims and survivors of Chernobyl, the world’s worst nuclear disaster. The team hosted 34 Belarusian children for a month, helped renovate their orphanage, and raised funds to pay the salaries of four of the orphanage’s nurses.

Other beneficiaries of the Dell Volunteers of Distinction program include:

• Brazil : Casa do Jardim;
• Canada : The North York Women’s Centre;
• China : Xiamen Education Fund, Dalian Charity Federation, The Animal Protection Group Dalian, Cyrus Tang Foundation;
• El Salvador : Fundacion Sagerera Palomo;
• India : Viveka Trust, Ashwini Charitable Trust, Centre for Humanity and Nature;
• Ireland : Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Dublin, Ballybunion Sea Rescue, The Bluebell School for Children with Autism;
• Malaysia : The Friends of Penang Botanic Gardens Society, Penang Wheelchair Tennis Association, Pork Tay High School;
• Panama : Nutre-Hogar;
• Slovakia : Mladeznicka Organizacia;
• United States : GirlStart, Hospice Austin, AIDS Services of Austin, Rock On Center for Kids, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Youth Villages, The Cincinnati Chapter of the American Red Cross, The Girls Scouts Tarheel Triad Council.

“Some of the most meaningful resources we can offer our communities are Dell employees’ time, talent, and expertise,” said Lisa Huddleson, executive director of the foundation. “The Volunteers of Distinction program is our way of encouraging and rewarding employees who actively participate in the communities they call home.”

“Volunteering with Legal Aid Society is important to me because it reminds me why I became a lawyer in the first place -- to solve problems and address needs in my community,” said Ann Pruitt, Legal Director and Volunteer of Distinction Winner. “My commitment to Legal Aid began in my third year of law school when legal clinic work demonstrated to me that legal advocacy for the disadvantaged is often the difference in being homeless or not... having food or not...having access to healthcare or not... having disability benefits or not. I committed that doing pro bono work and being an advocate for access to justice would always remain an important part of my life.“