A view of the last couple of days!

If you are interested in the Day in the Life of CSC in Sharon’s World, you might want to grab a cuppa, this one is a long one! The last couple of days have been full! So many stories, so many experiences.

Starting with Friday … well yesterday we felt like we made some headway, and left the office feeling like we are moving forward. With a couple of key meetings, we had things very much clearer in our heads. Still, of course, a lot to digest, and to get our heads around, but definitely took a few steps forward!

So what did we learn that I can share. Salesforce Philanthropy Cloud, or fondly known as SPC, as it is much easier to say … you try saying Philanthropy quickly!

“Philanthropy Cloud will enable employees. and companies to tailor, track and grow their community involvement, making it a one-stop shop for philanthropic engagement that will meet employees’ needs, raise company profiles and build a better society for every person in every community.”

Being almost 100 year old company, it is really looking at transforming to make themselves relevant in the Digital Age, partnering with large companies to help them meet their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). The potential is huge!

Meetings and drawing on walls makes way for thinking time and space!

5pm Friday night, and it was out the door, ready to experience what San Francisco had on order. So after some quick research, it was decided that Mr Tipples was the place to be to enjoy some Jazz. Well, weren’t we in for a treat! First up was the Josh Taylor Quartet – Bop Jazz; and then Mr. T All Stars. The atmosphere was wonderful, food and company was great, staff were very friendly including the beautiful Tonzia whom waited on us throughout the night, and the Jazz music was outstanding. I would highly recommend anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area to check it out.

Saturday was an early one. It was the IBM CSC Community Day. As we all piled into Ubers to head out to the outskirts of the City, there was a little excitement, wondering what the day ahead would bring. We arrived at the Oakdale Community Center, where several NGO’s come together and partner to support the mission to help the youth living in low income housing communities build brighter futures through mentorship and youth development. The vision – to end the generational cycle of poverty in one of the City’s most challenged neighborhoods.

The Oakdale Community Center and the surrounding area was bright with colour, where we were to be greeted by Leonardo Sosa from dev/mission, Mike Yoshioka and Marlene Harris from SFHDC. They are supported by a wonderful group of people that work and volunteer such as Leslie, Travis, Zuri, Stephany and Tina amongst a few names I captured, that help and support the 200 families in the local area. So when you add Jamie Lawrence from IBM and her husband John, Emma Almon from Atlas Corps, and the 15 of us from IBM #CSCUSA2 Team in the mix for the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Family Day to volunteer, it was sure to be a fantastic day for the children and their parents that participated in the day’s event.

The colour that greeted us at the Oakdale Community Center

The Oakdale Community Center is full of wisdom and positive messages on the walls, on the poles, in the rooms.

Leslie Canjura (<dev/Mission>), Emma Almon (Atlas Corps) and Leonardo Sosa (<dev/Mission>)

With Jamie Lawrence (IBM), her husband John, and Yen (IBM Vietnam)

Leonardo with IBM CSC MEDA Sub Team – Noemi (IBM Japan), Abhay (IBM Australia), Leo, Hong Jing (IBM China) and Alona (IBM Philippines)

Welcomes, Thank you’s and let’s begins from Zuri, Marlene, Mike and Jamie

Some selfies with Tanujha (IBM India), Marlene (SFHDC), Mike and his sweet little son, Masabi, Stephany and Tina.

Masabi was a cute 9 month old whom was full of smiles and cuteness. He loved being a part of the day, and was so good around all of us.

Stephany, a bright 17 year old, and someone that I loved spending time with, and listening to her story. Stephany is one of 5 children, and talked about her family and growing up in the area. She was proud of her background, and was humbled by where she was right now in the way of her education, and getting to help out at the Center. Stephany loves learning coding, and is keen to learn more on graphic design. She has also been learning Japanese for the past 3 years, and has a strong desire to visit Japan one day. I spoke about my background, and passed on some guidance on how to go for her dreams! I introduced her to Noemi, whom is from IBM Japan, so that she had a connection to the place of her dreams when she gets there one day in the future.

Tina, born and raised in Samoa, also had an interesting story. We spoke of NZ and Australia, where she mentioned that she had sisters living in both countries. I asked how did she end up in America … short answer she moved from Western Samoa to Hawaii where she was a hoola dancer and met her husband-to-be there. He was a Police Officer in San Francisco, where she moved to and they had raised their family. She spoke passionately of family, her fears, and her love of volunteering her time!

The day was full of activities. The IBM UWBA Sub Team activity was building towers with Pasta and Marshmallows. A very sticky mess, but a lot of fun was to be had. Not sure whom enjoyed it more … the children or the adults!

Another activity that was going on, to remove and re-build a computer. Here Ricardo (IBM Brazil) is helping some of the teen boys on how to remove the fan without breaking it. I found this activity some fun to be around as I took some time to chat with David, a 13 year old. His passion was boxing, and loved science at school with his favorite being science engineering. He was a very focused young man and did a wonderful job in rebuilding the desktop.

Before long, it was onto more activities whilst lunch was being prepared. Here you can see that Suwidhi (IBM Indonesia) was not going to share … he wanted it all! This is a typical set up of a Taco Truck feast without the truck as it couldn’t get onto the premises.

Next activities were Puzzles and blowing bubbles.

The other activity, by the WAKE Sub Team was about introducing a little design thinking where the teens and young ones were to use post it notes to state their future dreams. The WAKE Sub Team spoke of what their dreams were when they were young, and where they are today. This was a very loud and boisterous activity having everyone engaged, and provided a space for them to all really think about, and put down on paper and up on the tree what it is they wanted to do.

The long awaited lunch … it smelled great, presented well, and went down like a treat. Thanks to the gentleman (whose name escapes me) whom gave up his time to provide a wonderful lunch for everyone. Everything was fresh and home made and was appreciated by all.

Before long, the community service day was done, we were bidding farewell, all feeling wonderful on how the day went, seeing a lot of smiling faces, and special memories made.

The late afternoon left some time to do some more exploring of this great City of San Francisco. Each group of people that left went off to do something different. I spent the afternoon with Lung (IBM Malaysia), Yen (IBM Vietnam) and Madlen (IBM Switzerland). We went off to discover the sights and sounds of the Castro District (a famous LGBT area), with all its rainbow colour and very friendly people. We spoke to a couple of the locals whom helped with highlighting some of the places to take a look at. I even found a gentleman by the name of Daniel whom was selling crystals, and whom was an artist sharing some of work of Angels that he has painted. We instantly connected, with our love of crystals and healing.

Next on the list was the Mission Area where we explored and saw the beautiful buildings of Mission High School, sat and absorbed the atmosphere at the Mission Dolores Park, the Clarion Ally Street Art (which is part of CAMP), a Blueberry Buffalo Soft Serve.

Next stop was the famous Painted Ladies. I would like to point out, we had stripped off with the weather being so beautiful. We stepped into an Uber to get to the Painted Ladies, got out of the car, and it was like we had stepped into another world! The temperature had dropped significantly, so back on went the jackets. The Painted Ladies are Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings were built between 1892 and 1896 by a Developer – Matthew Kavanagh. They were repainted starting back in 1960s. These famous Painted Ladies have appeared in an estimaed 70 movies, TV programs and Ads, including the opening credits for the shows Full House and Fuller House (the sequel). If you click the link you can learn so much more about the history and background of what these beautiful homes and buildings stand for.