Last week, a large number of CompTIA staff participated in our annual volunteer day, spending our time at Spencer Technology Academy on the west side of Chicago. The school is home to a bright eyed and energetic bunch of kids in grades K through 8. Some of our group worked to clear and beautify an overgrown court yard, while others worked with students to create decorative mosaics spelling out the school’s name, painted the teacher’s lounge and redrew the basketball courts on a playground behind the school.
While all the work was rewarding, we were also gratified to have the chance to give back in other ways. After digging into a little background on Spencer, we learned the school had been a recent victim of a rash of computer thefts that occurred over the summer across the Chicago Public School system. In this particular case, the school had been robbed of 60 iPads expected to play a critical role in its educational plans for the coming year. Following the theft, the school had attempted a fundraising drive to gather the money necessary to replace the units. As we learned later, the results had come up woefully short of the roughly $20,000 needed.
So, at the suggestion of a member of our team, we asked how we could help them immediately and directly. Anybody who says money doesn’t buy happiness should have seen the looks on the faces of the Spencer faculty and administrators when we told them we’d like to help them by making up any shortfall they had towards replacing the stolen iPads. It was a tremendous cap to a great day of giving of ourselves and our time, and in cooperation with our foundation, Creating IT Futures, a way to share in our success too.
