Charity

Help support an awesome cause: College of Adaptive Arts

09.22.2015 by William Lam // 2 Comments

Working at VMware, I get the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most passionate Engineers, Technologists and Customer Advocates around. In addition to solving hard and technical problems for our customers, my colleagues are also very passionate philanthropists who are always looking for ways to give back not only financially but by also donating their time, talent and creativity to help others. They all truly embrace the VMware EPIC^2 values.

About a month ago, I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine, Minh Dao who works as a Program Manager within the Storage and Availability Business Unit at VMware. He was telling me a story about an organization he was recently involved with called the College of Adaptive Arts. This organization provides young adults with special needs with the same opportunity that many of us take for granted after graduating from high school, which is a higher education in college.

Minh was actually introduced to the program by Suchitha Chetia, a Director of QE who has been involved with the organization for some time. She had invited Minh out one weekend to their San Jose campus to see first hand the work of this organization. He told me he was really moved by what he had seen and experienced. These young adults just wanted to make a difference in the world just like any other young adult would. They dream big but often lack the resources to achieve those dreams. As with any higher education, it is not cheap. CAA offers classes in different disciplines such as communication, arts and music, TV and film, dance, etc. Funding for each discipline for an entire year costs about $15,000 USD. This year, the CAA will be hosting its 4th Annual Golf Classic on Monday, October 5th at the Santa Teresa Golf Club. It’s a joyful and invigorating day of golf whereby a group of three plays a round of golf with a golfer from the College of Adaptive Arts golf team. All funds raised will go to support various programs offered by CAA for the enrolled students.

Suchitha and Minh have created a VMware team to help raise funds for the CAA Organization. In addition to donating myself and supporting this awesome cause, I wanted to also share their story with my readers as I know many of you are also passionate philanthropists yourselves. Currently, Minh has set a goal of $1,500 but I am hopeful that we can easily blow that out of the water with your help. Any amount will help and will go a long way and the last day to donate is Oct 5th. Thank you in advance.

Note: For any VMware Employees who donate, please remember to submit a gift match through the VMware Foundation. This is a quick and easy way to double the donation!

How to Donate:

Please visit the following URL: https://www.classy.org/fundraise?fcid=502627

Help support JWOC's Racing4Change on #GivingTuesday

12.01.2014 by William Lam // Leave a Comment

During our Good Gigs Trek in Cambodia, I learned from one of the JWOC (Journeys Within Our Community) staff members, Victoria Neff that they were raising funds for an upcoming event cycling and running event to help raise awareness and funds for JWOC. I was really hoping the event was during our stay, but unfortunately it was not and that it would be taking place on Dec 6th and 7th. As many of you know, I enjoy cycling and have ridden in the past for several great charities and running is something I am now just taking up.

To support my friends over at JWOC, I have donated to Victoria's half marathon event as it was something near and dear to my heart because I will be attempting a similar run next year. I would also like to ask all of my followers to consider supporting this great cause, I know many of you have supported me in the past and for this #GivingTuesday, I would like to ask for your support for these wonderful folks over at JWOC.

Here is a bit more about the event and you can donate by going here.

Help us, help our community. Help our scholarship students and staff raise $9000 to allow crucial aspects of our projects to continue. This fundraiser will allow us to provide 140 water filters, continue our art and science classes for one year, fund 15 microloans and provide one whole village with 60 Home gardens. We want to help our community, but we need your help to make it possible.

On December 6th, Scholarship students and staff from Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC) will take part in a 30km bike ride to raise awareness and funds for JWOC. In addition, Victoria, our Education Manager and Makara, a graduated scholarship student, will run the Angkor half marathon on December 7th. Alex, JWOC's Managing Director, will be taking part in the Angkor 10k run to raise funds across the projects for JWOC.

We work to promote economic, educational and improved health opportunities through access to basic services such as clean water, microfinance, education and community liaison programs. JWOC builds capacity and increases self-reliance, helping struggling communities to face daily challenges and better their own future.

Good luck to everyone at JWOC taking part in the cycling and running events, you guys all rock!

VMware Canary Challenge accepted! Help needed

09.24.2014 by William Lam // Leave a Comment

I just found out about the Canary Challenge after seeing a tweet from a from a fellow VMware colleague Ray Blanchard. The Canary Challenge takes place this Saturday in Palo Alto and it to raise money for the Canary Center at Stanford to help fund early cancer detection research. I think this is another awesome cause and so I have decided to sign up for the 75mile ride (depending on how I feel, may consider the 100mile option).

Some might say I am crazy to sign up for another event, especially after just recently completing the Waves to Wine century ride for the National MS Society. I figured I could carry my training over to this event and I could also help support a local cause in my own Silicon Valley backyard. I also found out that the VMware team for this event (one of the reasons I am joining) is currently the #1 corporate fundraiser, in addition our very own VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger is among the top funderaiser which is just awesome to hear! Each attendee must raise a minimum of $400 and I literally have less than 4 days left to reach that goal, but I am also hoping I can raise a bit more. This is where I need your help, once again. If you would like to support me, the VMware team and most importantly, the Canary Center at Stanford, please consider donating!

If you wish to donate towards my ride, please click here for more details. Please share this with your co-workers, friends and family! For VMware employees who donate, do not forget to get it matched by the VMware Foundation!

My good VMware buddies Todd Valentine from Office of CTO and Uday Medietty from our Core API team will also be riding. Feel free to also support them as well!

Thank you for your considerations!