IBM gives back!

As part of IBM's Centennial celebrations, IBMers from across the globe were asked to share their skills within their communities by volunteering in IBM's Celebration of Service. The recognized Day of Service was Wednesday, June 15, 2011.


The IBM Celebration of Service is an event where employees take a day off work to lend a helping hand to the local charitable organizations. I volunteered at the Yellow Brick House women’s shelter to help organize their warehouse spaces. In a few short hours, we managed to completely revamp the warehouse with fresh paint, organized shelves, and a functional boutique clothing shop! The difference we made at the end really put a smile on everyone’s tired faces.

Volunteering has been a long time commitment for me since visiting a grassroots youth shelter for a high school project. It is an incredible feeling when you can see the impact and the gratitude from the people whose lives you have touched. Therefore, when I was looking for a 16 month internship, being able to stay involved in the local community was an important consideration for me.


Regardless of our job positions at IBM, the centennial volunteers were all connected by the single goal to do as much as we can for the families at the shelter. I was deeply moved by all the warmth, respect and dedication among the team. More importantly, this experience truly made me proud of working at IBM, where teamwork and the willingness to help others shine vividly through its corporate culture.






Rena Chiu

A two-way interview. Thoughts on Future Blue Day, by an enthusiastic new intern (Rena) and a wise graduating intern (Russell)

Why did you sign up to be part of Future Blue Day?



Rena: Between the promise of a free lunch and competitive games, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to prove to my fellow interns that non-techies can go head-to-head with even the most hardcore code writers. On a more serious note, I was looking forward to networking and getting to know the peers whom I’ll be spending my next 16 months with.

Russell: When I was approached by the Future Blue leads to be a captain I was skeptical a first, being an intensely competitive person and given the somewhat lax rules of last years Future Blue events, I wasn’t sure managing a whole team was the best idea: But I’m always up for meeting new people, getting a free lunch (while getting paid), so I went in with the attitude ‘why not’, maybe they’ll be some improvements over last year and it’ll be fun way to connect with new people

What was your favorite activity? What was the key bonding moment for your team?

Rena: The Cheer Competition was definitely the highlight. Despite the chilly weather, people were pumped up and came up with the most entertaining cheers I’ve ever seen (and I’m from Western). The best part is that everybody got to contribute their skills towards the team effort, and all that silliness got rid of the remaining awkwardness lingering in the air. Our team (Team 3 yea! yea!) had the most random key words to put into our cheer: Future Blue, Mario Brothers, and Cheese Cutters. Needless to say we had a ton of fun with that.

Russell: The Cheer Competition (And not just because Team 13 won ). The three key words was a great addition that gave the extra bit of guidance needed for an activity that was mostly met with blank stares last year. Being a musical theater buff, the first thing I did in the morning with the three words was script out a rough cheer as ‘backup’ in case my team wasn’t full of keeners. Turns out, we threw the whole thing out and started again because I was extremely fortunate to be paired with a team in which everyone wanted to participate fully and was in it to win it. Even in all my years of summer camp that is hard to come by!