IBM Thanksgiving Dinner

Dec 12, 2012 is a day to give and a day to receive. As IBM invited me to join their  IBM-Med Celebration of Service Yearender and Thanks Giving Dinner. Held at the Enderun College, Mckinley Hills Taguig.

The night started with cooking demonstration from  Chef Thomas Wenger.

With four (4) dishes, we were so excited to try own version of each dish. With an hour to prepare after the demostration, five team were ushered to the cooking area to prepare their competing dish.

Giving all what we knew and team work made us a winning team. With all the sweat and imagination, we finally made it.

Winner of the IBM Centennial Dish

After the delightful menu that was served , the time has finally came for others to receive,as six new Community Impact Grants to support projects that are in line with IBM’s community agenda and local community priorities, in partnership with academic institutions or not-for-profit organization. IBM awarded grants of $10,000 each through the Celebration of Service Grants, under the IBM Community Grants program.

As part of the Celebration of Service, IBM also announced yesterday a partnership with the IT Journalist Association of the Philippines (Cyberpress) to promote and advance the use of computers for young elementary students.  Initial beneficiary schools are Pio Del Pilar Elementary School in Makati City and Diosdado Macapagal Elementary School in Quezon City.  Cyberpress and IBM volunteers led the turn-over and training of the IBM Kidsmart Early Learning Program, held at the Pio Del Pilar Elementary School.

The IBM Community Impact Grants reward an IBM employee’s dedication to community service, with a particular focus this year on projects that apply innovation and professional skills in improving the communities where we live and work.
The 2011 IBM Community Impact Grant recipients include:

·         Negrense Volunteers for Change for their “Bulig Mo...Kabuhi Ko” / “Young Scientists of Negros” Project: IBM will help drive higher quality of education by leveraging technology in helping five public elementary schools in setting up Science libraries and Laboratories.

   RFM Foundation, Inc. - The Outstanding Students of the Philippines - Alumni Community (National Capital Region):  IBM will help expand the coverage of the “Youth Hours 2011” project.  The Youth Hours 2011 is an annual youth seeding formation workshop focused on the 3 pillars of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP) program: academic and professional excellence, leadership and social responsibility.

De La Salle University’s Operation Big Brother:  This program aims to implement a high quality high school education for selected groups of student in selected high schools in the Division of Schools in Manila. Specifically, it aims to create quality education by providing students with an enhanced curriculum (based on La Salle), and providing all necessary support elements to include: continuous training and development of teachers, provision of learning resources, and a strong values formation component.  The IBM grant will be used to cover the cost of learning resources and student learning materials i.e. full set of books, workbooks, school supplies, and logistics i.e. for teachers and project volunteers involved.

    Ayala Foundation’s My Library Project – Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC):  The project is focused on CENTEX Manila, a public elementary school that will be replicated to other community libraries under Ayala Foundation's "My Library" Project.  Through the IBM Grant, IBM volunteers will help develop a system that can feature modules on acquisition, cataloging, circulation, OPAC (Search engine).  Students will find great value in having all the needed information easily accessible with just one click.

       Miriam College Southeast Asian Institute for the Deaf’s (MC-SAID) Helping People with Disability project:  The IBM grant will be used to purchase additional PCs for their computer laboratory that will help propagate the internet safety coaching material to more people (adults and students alike) and also enhance their computer classes with more up to date tools.  In addition, the grant will help fund MC SAID outreach activities which are spent with more disadvantaged deaf communities and re-echo Internet Safety Coaching.

       Exempli Gratia Foundation’s Health – Education – Livelihood – Preparedness (HELP) program: IBM will help sustain standard H.E.L.P. programs that aims to address primary concerns of livelihood, values formation and nation-building -- like medical and dental missions, post typhoon relief operations, and donation of e-classrooms in various towns and cities outside of Metro Manila.

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