AVer is committed to making a difference in our local community. Our Corporate Citizen Team is always looking for new ways to get involved with our community and we are excited to participate in more local programs in 2010.
Events:
Clean Up the World Weekend
AVer branch offices across the world joined forces on September 19th, 2009 to participate in Clean Up the World Weekend! With the focus on environmental clean up and conservation, each office selected a local activity and organized groups to join in the efforts and improve their communities! For the second year in a row, AVer USA participated in California's Coastal Clean Up Day and joined thousands of volunteers in this annual event to collect trash and debris from beaches and lakes in order to protect local marine life and care for the environment. In 2009 this event attracted more than 80,600 volunteers and collected over a million pounds of debris from our beaches, lakes and waterways.
Special Olympics
AVer employees and their families joined thousands of volunteers at the 2009 Special Olympics of Northern California Summer Games in Davis, California. Volunteers had a great time helping out at this event and assisting the athletes on their day of competition. The Special Olympics of Northern California serves more than 13,000 athletes and provides year-round sports training and competition in a variety of events for children and adults with developmental disabilities.
Nike Animal Rescue Foundation
In June 2009, AVer employees and their families participated in the Nike Animal Rescue Foundation's "Walk Your Tail Off for Homeless Animals" event in San Jose, California. Employees helped to set up for the annual walk-a-thon event and even participated in the walk to showcase some of the dogs that were up for adoption at the event! The walk is the largest annual fundraiser for the Nike Animal Rescue Foundation, which is a local non-profit and volunteer based organization focused on rescuing, providing care and locating quality, permanent homes for animals in need. All of the proceeds from this event supported the organization's programs including foster care and emergency veterinary assistance.
Walk a Mile in Her Shoes!
AVer participated in the 7th annual "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" event sponsored by the YWCA of Silicon Valley and held on April 22nd, 2009 in downtown San Jose. Over 500 participants came out to this event in an effort to raise awareness about sexual assault and violence in our community and to raise funds for the YWCA's rape crisis center. All male participants were asked to wear a pair of high heels and literally "walk a mile in her shoes" to show their support for this cause. AVer donated over $1000 to the YWCA and had nine employee participants and many other employee supporters out on the course!
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to show our support for this cause, AVer participated in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on October 25th, 2008 in San Jose! Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is a noncompetitive walk event and participants fundraise to help fight breast cancer and provide hope to people facing the disease. This event is held annually in multiple cities nationwide and all proceeds from the events benefit the American Cancer Society and breast cancer research. AVer's Corporate Citizen Team held weekly fundraising events and collected employee donations totaling over $2,300!
Spring Cleaning Event
AVer hosted a Spring Cleaning event in 2008 to collect clothing donations for the Salvation Army and ladies' suit donations for the Dress for Success Organization. The Salvation Army collects quality clothing, furniture and home goods donations for thrift stores across the country. One hundred percent of the proceeds from these thrift stores will go directly towards the Salvation Army's Adult Rehabilitation Centers, which provide people with work therapy programs and vocational skills that help them to get back on their feet and become self-sustaining individuals. The Dress for Success Organization is a national non-profit organization that aims to help disadvantaged women by providing them with professional attire and career development tools to help them succeed in the workplace.
The company was divided into several department teams with each team competing to see who could donate the most. The winning team would receive a free lunch outing to the restaurant of their choice! Weekly emails were sent out keeping participants up to date on who was winning. During the five week timeframe of the competition, AVer collected over 2,500 clothing item donations for the Salvation Army and 17 ladies' suit donations for the Dress for Success Organization, making the event a huge success!
"Eating For a Cause"
In 2008, AVer held a charity pie eating competition and invited all competing employees to "eat for a cause". The winner of the pie eating competition would receive a donation from AVer to the approved non-profit organization of their choice! With this motivating the participants, the competition was fierce! The contest ended in a tie for first place and donations were made to the Prevent Cancer Foundation and the Hughes Extended Day/Latch Key Program. The Prevent Cancer Foundation is a non-profit organization with a mission of cancer prevention and early detection through research, education and community outreach. The Hughes Extended Day/Latch Key Program is a non-profit organization devoted to providing supervised activities for children needing child care before and after school hours, providing an answer for working parents with concerns about leaving their children unsupervised. This program helps keep children off the street by providing recreational and educational activities.
Adopt – A – Soldier
AVer proudly supports our troops! AVer is a member of "Soldiers' Angels", a non-profit organization that sponsors deployed men and women of the US military and their families. The motto of this organization, "May No Soldier Go Unloved", clearly shows its dedication to providing support and encouragement to our troops overseas. AVer has volunteered through this organization to adopt a soldier. We are currently sending monthly care packages and weekly letters to our soldier in Iraq.
AVer remembers those lost and fights back against Cancer and AIDS!
In 2007, employees, friends and family members participated in The Relay for Life along with hundreds of community members to raise money for the American Cancer Society. By keeping at least one person on the track for 24 hours, we were able to honor and remember those that have been lost to cancer and raise money to help find a cure. AVer matched 100% of all money raised.
In 2006 we focused our efforts on raising money to help find a cure for AIDS. After months of generating donations, employees, family members and friends walked on a 10K journey through Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. AVer, along with the other 25,000 walkers raised $3.77 million dollars for the San Francisco Aids Foundation. AVer matched 100% of donations raised by its employees and volunteers.
Holiday Giving
AVer holds an annual food and toy drive during the holiday season and donates contributions to our local community through the Milpitas Food Pantry and the Milpitas Fire Department. Looking to make the holiday season a little brighter for those in our community, we manage to fill our donation barrels with toys and canned food items for these local programs.
Every Thanksgiving, the Milpitas Food Pantry provides over 300 special food boxes to local families in need. The Milpitas Fire Department collects toy donations through their annual toy drive and helps support local, underprivileged children by proving their parents with several new toys to be wrapped and given to the child on Christmas morning. AVer is proud to provide assistance to our local community through these local programs.
Monetary Donations
AVer empowers employees to help determine where service and charitable donations should be allocated. Over the years, AVer has supported many wonderful organizations including St. Jude's Children's Hospital, American Red Cross, Y.M.C.A. and R.A.F.T. - Resource Area for Teachers. AVer recently matched all employee contributions made towards Haiti relief efforts. AVer fully supports the impact and contributions of these organizations and plans on providing support and service to many other great programs in the future.
AVer partners with Innvision to make a difference!
Innvision is an organization dedicated towards putting an end to poverty. They provide housing, food and resources to homeless men and women and help them back on their feet. Each month, employees donate their time to read and interact with children at the San Jose Innvision women's shelter. AVer provides children with their very own book and healthy snack to enjoy. Each reading session is followed by educational games and activities that the children can't get enough of. Our goal is to build confidence in these children and to help educate them on valuable life lessons, while creating a supportive environment for the mothers who come to Innvision for help.
AVer Scholarship - We support education and a sustainable future!
AVer strives to make the environment a better place and is conscious about its corporate practices. Not only are we dedicated to a sustainable environment, we support others who are committed to protecting our environment. A third annual $5K scholarship will be awarded to one graduating high school senior in the class of 2010 who has contributed towards a healthy and sustainable future. The deadline to submit an application is March 2010. Check out the
scholarship section on our website and
apply today!
