Blogs

All Smiles and Tears in the Eyes

Today was a pivotal moment for the IBM UWBA Sub Team. All the work over the past 3 and a bit weeks has been all worth it to see the response that we saw today. Today I was so proud of what we as a team have been able to achieve in such a short time, and seeing it all being pulled together! It was a small moment that just happened, completely unprepared, but so worth it!

But let me first digress and make mention of the events of today as I think through the day and share with you all a couple of highlights.

This afternoon I got to watch my colleague Susannah (IBM UK) take the team through a Design Thinking Workshop Journey. She presents this topic with such flair. The workshop was fun, it was quick to the point, and definitely got a vibe working in the room as Susannah introduced this topic to pass on some skills to help UWBA to work through some of their top issues after we have gone. Everybody was engaged, everybody got involved, with plenty of questions, laughter, seriousness over a lunch and learn.

Then later this afternoon, the UWBA group were pumped and wanted to know what was happening tomorrow as they had all been invited to come learn what we have been working on. As we were sitting there, suddenly all eyes were upon us, inquisitive as they had heard about this Engagement Model Workbook that we had put together. They wanted a sneak peak.

Due to the enthusiasm, there was a quick demonstration. What came next we were not expecting … I watched and captured the following pictures to keep that memory alive … my heart melted as I saw the reactions of these passionate women whom live and breathe wanting to make a difference. That was the moment, to beat all moments! To see their expressions and reactions was just gold, knowing that we had done something to make a difference! There were huge smiles, and tears in the eyes. Needless to say that they are all talking about it, and all are very excited for our presentation to them tomorrow.

Tonight was our last group yoga in person, at our favourite place, the Grace Cathedral. I am certainly going to miss this beautiful loving environment like no other. So joined by some of my IBM CSC colleagues – Susannah, Benedicte, Abhay, Valentin, Noemi, and Emma (Atlas Corps), we all were one, at peace, enjoying the special time together with a few hundred others, as we spent an hour breathing and doing our downward dog and cobra moves, knowing that it was our last time F2F. The music amazing, every week it is someone different who plays or sings the night away. Highly recommend if you are ever in San Fran.

I did suggest we might want to take up a virtual yoga session, not sure how successful we will be at it, but hey you never know.

After yoga, Benedicte, Susannah, Noemi and I joined our UWBA colleagues for a Mexican Taco Farewell for Meghan, whom is moving to the Contra Costsa Sparkpoint. It was lovely to see them all and enjoy a yummy meal, a beer and great conversation.

That’s all for today!

Before I sign off, I wanted to take a moment to thank the many of you whom have spoken to me about my blog, how you have followed my journey so far. It has been brilliant hearing your feedback, which has certainly been encouraging. Thank you for taking the time. In fact I am so enjoying blogging that I’m thinking of continuing on with it after CSC … watch this space!

Weekend Sights and Glide – Feed the Homeless!

Let me start with the weekend highlights before I get into today.

Since my last blog I have clocked up more than 43.5K+ steps, climbed 52 floors, and around 32 kms of walking. In that mileage I have experienced the following:

Saturday, 29 Sept

  • Saturday morning was spent wandering around the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. It was such a beautiful calm morning. One thing that struck me was the history of the place. It offered the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Pacific Coast maritime history. The Park includes a fleet of historic ships, a Visitor Center, Maritime Museum, Maritime Research Center, and a Aquatic Park Historic District. As I entered the Municipal Pier, I noted how badly in shape the Pier was. There was a sign up “Save the Pier!” where it explained that the Pier was built in 1934 to create a protected cove where people could swim. The pier has endured decades of winter storms and pounding waves which has significantly weakened the 1400 foot walkway. The pier remains open today, but unless preserved and saved, it will one day close!

  • Saturday afternoon – Muir Woods Tour – a beautiful serene place, with the colours outstanding in nature, the tall trees providing some peace to recharge the batteries. Abhay (IBM Australia) and I spent some time chatting about life, what the future looked like and admiring the views and surroundings as walked amongst these majestic giant trees. The main attraction of Muir Woods are the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) trees. They are known for their height, and are related to the giant sequoia of the Sierra Nevada. While redwoods can grow to nearly 380 feet (115 m), the tallest tree in the Muir Woods is 258 feet (79 m). Until the 1800s, many northern California coastal valleys were covered with coast redwood trees similar to those now found in Muir Woods National Monument. To protect the redwoods the Kents donated land to the Federal Government and, in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared it a national monument. Interesting fact, Muir Woods featured in the movies The Rise of The Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. After the Muir Woods, we ended up in Sausalito where we left the bus, and caught a ferry across the Bay to Fisherman’s Wharf. It turned out to be a mild evening watching the sun going down, and watching the lights dance in the water from the City. Fisherman’s Wharf was alive with music, lights, dance, street performers.

Sunday, 30 Sept

  • Sunday, I went off to explore Lands End! A magical place, especially when the weather was stunning. Catching public transport required 2 buses to my first stop which was Legion of Honor. I had not done any research, so was surprised to find some interesting sights. Sometimes the best way to be, no expectations, therefore one can be engulfed in the whole experience and not be disappointed. Firstly, let me tell you a little story about a Crow while I was waiting for my 2nd bus. This Crow was very bright and black, shining in the sun. It made sure to catch my attention and flew in front of me, landing at the Pedestrian Crossing next to me. i stood bemused as this Crow waited for the traffic, waited for the lights, and proceeded to “walk” across the road, sticking to the pedestrian crossing all the way! A few minutes later, I hear what I thought was a telephone ringing very loudly. I happened to look up at the Crow whom happened to be sitting on the roof of a apartment building in front of me, and there he was, making a sound of a ringing telephone! I guess you had to be there, but it certainly amused me as I was sitting waiting for my bus.

  • So, Legion of Honor. It is, in fact, a museum. If you click on the link, you can read all about what the museum has to offer. I did not go inside, but observed this pavilion is a replica of the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris, one of the 18th-century landmarks on the left bank of the Seine. The California Palace of the Legion of Honor was completed in 1924, and on Armistice Day of that year the doors opened to the public. In keeping with the wishes of the donors, to “honor the dead while serving the living,” it was accepted by the city of San Francisco as a museum of fine arts dedicated to the memory of the 3,600 California men who had lost their lives on the battlefields of France during World War I. Also on the grounds was a glass pyramid, some statues such as The Thinker, etc.

  • Next, a very moving memorial – the Holocaust Memorial which really made you think! The Holocaust Memorial or “The Survivor” is a haunting, realistic life-size sculpture depicting 11 victims of Nazi death camps, with one standing looking out past a barbed wire fence. Created and installed in 1984, the placement of this memorial was controversial from the beginning. Some felt that the commemoration of an atrocity in such a graphic way was not appropriate in such a beautiful landscape. But sculptor George Segal insisted, saying that the viewer might consider death while facing toward the monument and life while facing toward the Golden Gate.Jews were among the city’s earliest settlers. Beginning during the Gold Rush of 1849, Jews came here looking fora fresh start and a level playing field. By the 1870s, San Francisco had the largest Jewish population in the country outside of New York.

  • Labyrinth at Land’s End – a beautiful spiritual place, which unfortunately not many quite understand. The place would have been perfect if people just turned up and was quiet, taking in the moment of this magic place. San Francisco artist Eduardo Aguilera created the Labyrinth, which has been destroyed on two occasions by persons unknown, but Aguilera rebuilt it each time. A spot worthwhile seeing, particularly on a beautiful day like I was lucky enough to have.

  • One Mile Rock Beach – just down from the Labyrinth, is also another magic spot. Here you will find towers of rocks balancing … a beautiful spot to find your balance in.

  • The coastal walk was certainly breath taking, again with no presence of the wind, the coastal walk was simply stunning. Watched seals frollicking in the water below, to watching the birds dance in the sunlight.

  • Late Sunday afternoon, I was soon back at the Hotel, meeting my UWBA Sub Team colleagues as we did a few hours of work, knowing that we had a full week ahead being our last week.

Monday, 1 October (wow where did that time go)

  • So, leaves me with today! First half of the day was spent powering through our report to present this week to UWBA. Our cubicle quiet as we were all deep in thought as we divided the tasks to conquer the work needed to be done, and got on with it.
  • This afternoon, the UWBA Sub Team (Benedicte, Susannah and Ricardo), along with Ansa (Atlas Corps Fellow), went along on a field trip to Glide to fulfil a volunteering task of “Feed the Homeless”. The Glide Organisation philosophy is simple: love, acceptance, and compassion, which they apply through programs in Wellness, Growth, Spirit, and Leadership. Click here to read their interesting and colourful history over time. Talking to one of the volunteers, he was able to talk about how the Co-Executive Director and Rev. Karen Oliveto’s elevation to the bishopric was quite historic. He spoke of the pictures on the walls, and whom each person was.
  • It was certainly a humbling experience as we were in a neighbourhood where it was prevalent that there were many homeless people. Also supporting today’s dinner meal, was a group of children from a Boys and Girls Club, whom do many activities after school, which includes volunteering activities of this nature. I was tasked to serve up spaghetti bolognese with some of the young girls, while others got busy doing other tasks. Meeting our task master James, he was certainly a very passionate energised man with a sense of purpose in getting his crew to serve up as quickly as possible, in a clean environment, and ensuring that there was respect no matter whom you were.
  • As it turned out, I had to be shown how to serve up a good place of spaghetti bolognese, as I was doing it all wrong! I soon caught on, scoop and spread, scoop and spread Sharon … soon 265 bowls of this had been dished up. As I occasionally looked up at some of the people walking in, my heart opened, and wondered about the stories of these people. Unfortunately, there was no time to talk, just scoop and serve! Come 5pm, the doors closed, group selfies done, a hug and thank you from James, with James asking if I would come back at 7am (ahhh, would love to, but no time James, but will definitely let others know, that if you are in San Francisco, then you should sign up to help out when you are here!)

  • When we walked out the doors, the world was a different place to earlier in the day. It certainly gave you a sense of the Homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area, being just one pocket of people living on the streets. I was absorbed in my surroundings, in the people, in the sense of community that there appeared to be.
  • A quick visit to a Westfield with my colleagues, where we did another 30 minutes of work, and then everyone departed their separate ways. I was in the food court, where a picture had caught my eye, and I thought that it was just something that had to be tried … the most amazing Lobsticle from Lobster Me ‘s secret menu … it was pricey, but oh so worth it. If you ever get the opportunity, ask for a grill stick. To die for!!

  • Heading home, as I was walking, the evening produced many more sights and sounds of a different nature being in a different part of the City that I had not been in. From a band playing on the sidewalk with old ladies dancing to their music, enjoying themselves; to a singular man on a saxophone, playing some tunes as the surrounding buildings provided the acoustics; to an old man in a wheel chair at the entrance of Union Square, dancing it up, he had the moves as very loud hip music played from a sound box on his wheel chair, to a small group in Union Square carrying flags and yelling something out in protest against something that I did not quite understand.

Tonight I reflect on the day, give thanks to the bed that I am about to climb into, for the clothes on my back, for my home back in Australia. I feel very blessed!

Sparkpoints and Community Spirit!

This is a long one, another cuppa might be in order. Enjoy!

Friday was an opportunity to understand in part what United Way Bay Area (UWBA) was about, why the UWBA employees are so passionate! Over the past 3 weeks we had heard so much about Sparkpoint Centers, just one of the many services that UWBA provides. So it was a field trip of the interesting kind!

Heading out for a field trip required a Cable Car ride down California Ave, catching a train experiencing the BART public transport, out to Richmond. This trip provided an opportunity to see the landscape change from the inner city to suburbia as we all wondered what was ahead for the day. In Richmond, we were met by Nicole, Meghan and Ansa (Atlas Fellow) where we were to pile into the cars and continue on. This field trip provided an opportunity to get to know our hosts a little more, asking lots of questions about UWBA, and to understand the passions of why they do what they do.

Train trip selfies and the wall art at the Richmond Station.

First stop was the Contra Costa County Sparkpoint Center. The role and service of a Sparkpoint Center is to be a one-stop assistance for low-income families and individuals to help them become financially stable, which includes high wage job training, and debt and credit counseling.

Meghan is leaving UWBA, with next week being her last week. But she is certainly not going to be too far away from UWBA, as she spreads her knowledge and passion at her new work location … the Contra Costa Sparkpoint Center in Richmond. She will be the new Site Co-ordinator for the area, touching many lives at the ground level. Meghan will be using an ECM database entering key data that flows into UWBA, that helps to see and report on the important work that the Center is doing to support the families. She will be a great role model for all the Sparkpoints in the local surrounding areas.

A short tour by the energised and passionate Regina, together with Nicole, provided a real insight to the services that the Center provides for the low income families such as a space for Tech Hub where people can learn computer skills. The Center also provides a space for legal support service, credit and financial counseling and career coaching and connection to other financial services.

This cheque from Chevron, one of UWBA’s partners, proudly hanging on the wall and spoken of. It provided the important funding back in 2011 to get the Center up and running. Also acknowledged, was The City of Richmond donates the space for the Center to run their services out of which means what the Center saves on rent, goes back into the community. With the support of partners like this, it is helping the mission of breaking the cycle of poverty in the Bay Area.

A group picture with Regina, Meghan, and Ansa (Atlas Fellow). Regina did a wonderful job in explaining all about the services provided by this Sparkpoint Center. Her enthusiasm and passion was evident. Regina has been researching ways on further helping low income families with getting into affordable housing in the area. She even spoke about an initiative that was happening that she thinks could easily be implemented here in the US for the thousands of low income families. She handed over a document that she had printed out which I read with interest. ICON has developed a method for 3D printing a single story 650-square-foot house out of cement in only 12-24 hours using a Vulcan printer for about $10K. If all goes to plan, a community will be made up of about 100 homes for residents in El Salvador next year. Regina thinks why not here! She would love to work with someone, anyone, to get this going in the Bay Area! When she shared this with us, I thought it was worthwhile mentioning here in the hope that it might help Regina’s dream if someone was to take on the challenge!

Next site visit was the Napa Sparkpoint Center which is part of a local school community. Here we met with Lupita, Ligia, and Maria. Again, the passion evident! SparkPoint Napa provides collaboration between On The Move, Phillips Elementary School and Napa County Health and Human Services, to bring more resources, connections and opportunities to the low income families in the Neighborhood.

Here Lupita and Ligia share the type of services they provide to the community with the help from four parent interns, and partnerships such as with On the Move organisation, on important areas such as:

  • being a VITA site providing a service to help families prepare and complete their yearly income tax W2 documentation.
  • Medi-Cal application support to obtain medical insurance
  • Citizenship Legal Services that helps legal permanent residents become U.S. Citizens at a low cost
  • Citizenship classes and tutoring
  • Support for other services such as emergency funding in the recent fires that were in the Napa Region.
  • helping to bridge parents with the local school, organising parent / teacher conferences to support their children.
  • run programs such as how parents can teach their children the value of the $$, healthy and affordable meals, how to purchase a vehicle (which provides necessary skills on how to calculate their monthly payment, understanding dealership charges, what is a down payment and interest, and getting car insurance), English classes, etc.

Later in the afternoon, we were able to visit and see some of the local employment areas, enjoy a good ole California Burger experience for lunch, and visit a couple of wineries. Napa County is north of San Francisco, in California. As we were driving around the local area, we were able to see many hillside vineyards in the Napa Valley wine region, and good markets with regional gourmet food. There is also a Napa Valley Wine Train which is a vintage locomotive and traveling restaurant that runs through the valley. This whole area is where these types of places that we saw, provides a wide range of seasonal work for a lot of the local families in the area. Being seasonal, means that families have to save hard during the on seasons, to ensure that there is money to get through those off seasons.

The Wine Restaurant Train

Nicole and I amongst some beautiful flowers and garden.

Sutter Home Winery has been around since late 1800s. Sutter Home Winery is one of the largest family-run independent wineries in the United States, and is the estate known for the creation of White Zinfandel.

Front – Benedicte and Meghan; Middle – Ricardo and Nicole; Back – Susannah and Ansa

The day was finished late with dinner at an interesting and popular Italian Pizza Bistro – BOTTO. There was an interesting story behind this little place, where the owners took on a company that provided reviews – Yelp! As the owners were not interested in being part of the “Yelp Community”, Yelp retaliated by adding an algorithm that put the worst reviews as first. To not be outdone by this, the Owners turned this around to their advantage, they put up that people would get a free pizza initially for adding a 1 star rating which has ended up being a melt down for Yelp. Now it has become the norm, you visit BOTTO’s, you add a 1 star review. So far as advertised on BOTTO’s website is:
THE YELP VAFFANCULO METER
A daily count to all the one star reviews the idiots at Yelp are removing
from our profile. It’s going to take them a while
LIVE UPDATE SO FAR 2,993

Love the story, Authentic Tuscan cooking with attitude, also specializing in getting the worst reviews on Yelp! So meet one of the Executive chefs Davide Cerretini, Michele Massimo was in the kitchen cleaning up at the time of this picture. These 2 passionate partners and chefs make the best pasta that we have all experienced … trusting our hosts Meghan and her partner “Don” (as nicknamed by the Chefs), they ordered our meals which were divine!

BOTTO’s menu and signage made me giggle!

As the UWBA Sub Team got into an Uber at the end of the wonderful day, we took time to reflect on the amazing day we had. It was awesome to get out and to see the Sparkpoint Centers, to meet the awesome people working in these centers, to meet the locals! Thanks to Nicole and Meghan for taking us around to experience another side of San Francisco.

Omnificient and a Birthday Celebration CSC Style

Highlights of today …

For those that love words … I believe the UWBA Sub Team was this very meaning today so thought it very appropriate when I stumbled across it on my walk around the office … “unlimited in creative power” … in Susannah’s words “we nailed it!”

What I also learnt about myself today was Me and a Mac … not a great combo! But I do make great wrapping paper.

So after our last checkpoint call together this afternoon …

… it was time to head out and go Brazilian style for a special birthday at Minas Brazilian. With a team effort, we held a surprise party to help Alona celebrate her birthday with her CSC Family. A great night had by all … fantastic food, great vibe!

Polaroid pics that everyone loved!

Group selfie

The food was wonderful, highly recommend the grilled salmon!

Snick Snax and Fog

I thought I would touch on some funny moments after the past few days. If you can imagine, when you are working with people whom all come from different countries, where the common language for all is English, but where the English language can be so diverse in everyone’s interpretation.

To give you a couple of examples

I say “It’s time for a Kit Kat Break“, it’s interpreted as “What App are you talking about now Sharon .. this Snick Nax?”. We both looked at each other, and I just burst out laughing. I then explained it is a type of biscuit and we needed to stop looking at data as it was driving us a little crazy!

Another example … Benedicte says “It’s foggy out there”, but what Susannah and I heard we both had to turn our heads. I will leave it up to you but it was not “fog”!

Imagine you are Brazilian and trying to say Vietnamese after you tell me we are going to Cordon Bleu (which is a French term generally), so I had to ask him to spell or say slowly and I was still not getting it until he mentioned Yen and the country she was from.

I’m guessing they are going with the noun .. cook of the highest class!

So yes, it takes several go’s, possibly being a little creative, but we have certainly had a lot of fun interpreting amongst each other.

Today there was a get together to listen live to one of the key notes at Dreamforce being held in San Francisco across several locations. It was announed about the partnership between Salesforce and United Way and the new digital age of connecting everyone together to record their donations and, soon to be, volunteer hours … connecting Citizen and Corporate Philanthropy at a scale they could potentially help so many!

Announcement back in February 2018

The partnership

Tonight, after a very long day continuing being immersed in data, the four of us went to meet some of the UWBA colleagues for a farewell drink of one of their colleagues leaving the organisation. It was another interesting place with a great vibe that we were introduced to as part of the overall San Fran experience – a Tiki Bar complete with exploding volcano, twinkling stars, carvings and totem poles. Pagen Idol

Group pictures

Benedicte, Ashley, Meghan, Ricardo, and Susannah

Benedicte, Paris, Ashley, Meghan, Kaila, Ricardo, Gabriel, Susannah

Humbling Experiences!

Sunday, 23rd September was my day to check out the Presidio area and to conquer the Golden Gate Bridge!

I decided to make the National Cemetery at Presidio my first stop. It was certainly a very humbling experience being amongst so many souls whom sacrificed so much! I took time to reflect and to send healing out.

The Presidio area is also well known for their picnic days. With many food trucks offering many delights, to a local Indian community dance group where women and young girls danced their traditional dances. The entertainment was colourful and full of vibe.

Next mission, to walk to and across the Golden Gate Bridge. I am happy to say it was conquered. What spectacular views and a beautiful afternoon!

The last couple of days, my CSC colleagues and I have been very busy analysing data and writing on walls as we thrash out our thoughts and discussions.

And the last couple of nights some of us have been re-visiting the Grace Cathedral. Monday night was a Sound Healing like no other. I think the pics and short video speak for themselves. Attended by 1300 people it was spectacular! This sound healing was in light if the Harvest Moon, a very special event providing space and sound to rip through your stuff and to give one almighty healing!

And tonight was the Tuesday night Yoga.

I love chatting to my CSC colleagues and discovered that for those that joined me, that they had not experienced such things back home like this so it was great to see them participating and enjoying the experiences.

Pictures below:

Awaiting to get into the Grace Cathedral with Hong Jing and Madlen

The impressive lights and instruments such as gongs, crystal bowls, Didgeridoo, Xylophone, rain makers, Native American Flute just to name a few that were to be played for an hour and 15 minutes.

Two ladies playing the Harp for an hour as people arrived .. see the short clip i have posted here so you can get a glimpse of what the energy was like!

Yoga with my CSC colleagues Abhay, Valentin, Susannah and Benedicte

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.

A busy, but wonderful couple of days was had by all. I do hope you enjoyed reading this blog and hope that the cuppa and break was worth it!

Reporting and Yoga at the California Academy of Sciences!

Today was busy teaming and getting into Salesforce reporting and spreadsheets. Needless to say having the time getting into the data analysis side of things was quite different for me with the focus on one task being an unusual thing to do, so the day went by quickly!

Lunchtime selfie practice for Ricardo .. only took 3 times to get it right!

So come to the end of the day it was off to the California Academy of Sciences to do yoga with a bit of a difference. One session was amongst the coral with a funky headset, the other session amongst the stars in the planetarium.

The Rainforest

Each Thursday night there is something fun for the adults only. Tonight it was Yoga amongst the Coral …

… and Yoga amongst the stars in the Planetarium

California Academy of Sciences

Benedicte advertising that “Water in a Box is better”!

Tocqueville, Homebridge, and Socialising

An eventful day, but hey whom am I kidding, every day is an eventful day!  Let me share about today:

  • First up … a learning for the UWBA Sub Team as we were deep into the reporting side of business this morning, a question was asked “What is Tocqueville?” in reference to what we were looking at. It led to an interesting discussion and we learnt something new. This particular program is named after Alexis de Tocqueville although a French man. in the mid 1800s was renowned for his works in Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution.  In both of these, he analyzed the improved living standards and social conditions of individuals as well as their relationship to the market and state in Western societies.
  • Next … Homebridge – Health Care Services Hiring Event – this was an opportunity to see how UWBA partners with a Not For Profit organisation.
    • UWBA helps by providing a venue, staff, and campaigning an event of this nature.  This type of event is where it provides an opportunity for “clients” (the youth) to come along and potentially put forward their details for jobs on offer.
    • We were able to see how this campaign was recorded and what data is captured live into the Salesforce system. In all my years around CRM, I do fully appreciate that having a CRM tool is important, additionally gathering key quality data also helps any organisation towards having something to analyse which can help with resources, promotions, types of engagements, etc.  Having a good CRM system is only as good as what is being entered, and how it is being used!  A tough, but necessary addition for many!
    • A plug for Homebridge, they provide home care and support services in San Francisco county. Their largest program is home care, in which they deliver more than 500,000 hours of home care service to over 1,200 clients annually. They also operate a training program for personal caregivers, and transitional care program for those discharged from hospitals by offering home based services to elderly and disabled in the Bay Area.

  • This afternoon was an All Hands Staff Meeting that we were invited to – being a part of this meeting provided an insight on a few different topics that were interesting.
    • So from a Fire Extinguisher Sweep sending 3 employees off to find the 5 extinguishers on the floor; to what to do in emergencies such as fires or (dare we say it) Active Shooters which was quite different from anything I have experienced in Australia, but I do understand very real in the US.
    • Next on the Agenda was Alyssum Maguire from Solano Youth Voices, a guest speaker whom presented on the great work they do such as the Youth Council, expansion of the Youth Voice by building a network of youth leaders and organisations. They are running Rising Leader’s training on a monthly basis for youth (ages 10-14); hosting creative engagement events for youth. All of this sounds amazing, wouldn’t it be great to have something like this across the board in all countries!
    • Next week is the Dreamforce event in San Francisco, and the statistics were phenomenal for last year with 170K registered, from 83 countries, and 10M online viewers; and there is guaranteed to be similar, or if not better, attendance this year.  There is a sense of buzz around the office as you think about those numbers, and how many will get to hear about United Way in a few scheduled keynotes. So if any of my followers are in the area, or are in the US and going to the event, reach out.

  • So to end a day of all days of learning, what is left, but a social event outside after work. I love social gatherings as it is a way to get to know people outside of the company walls, with it also being an opportunity for the UWBA team to get to know us better.
  • Once the socialising was done, only one thing left to do, try out some good food at a recommended Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown, and true to form, the food was great, and an added bonus where the staff looked after myself and my CSC colleagues very well!

Fire Drills, Passion and Yoga

The one time of the year that there is a fire drill in the building, and guess who were the lucky ones to find out UWBA’s evacuation plan. Luckily it was at the end of a meeting, the alarms are going off, quickly grabbing my important IBM gear, we were ushered out the door and down 10 flights of stairs. Interesting listening to some on how hearing the sirens made them nervous, others not so much. I think sometimes we might get a little complacent, sometimes frustrated, but these drills are an important necessity. And you know what, it was time for a tic tac break anyways to enjoy a little sunlight before we headed back indoors.

This afternoon I got to spend a little one on one time with one of the team members, Meghan (in picture below). After listening to her talking about what she did within UWBA the other day, I wanted to re-connect to listen, and listen again. Her passion for what she does clearly came out, which seemed common across everyone that we have spoken with so far. What I found beautiful about Meghan was her eyes welling up knowing that there was help, and was very appreciative of the opportunity that UWBA had been given by Atlas Corps and IBM. The consistent message we have seen is how all UWBA employees are wanting to make a difference in the world!

So this afternoon it was about taking some additional time to dig a little deeper and begin to think about a couple of recommendations moving forward that would benefit all … just one small piece of a bigger puzzle to help this fantastic organisation to continue the great work that they provide to so many.

Tonight was an amazing opportunity not to be missed … yoga at the Grace Cathedral. What an awesome place to be to do my favorite exercise – yoga. My yoga instructor, Jude, would be very proud and impressed.

My UWBA sub team colleagues Benedicte, Susannah and I met up with Emma from Atlas Corps to experience something out of the ordinary. The evening included live music, chanting by Nathan Kendall which both music and chanting was absolutely beautiful, and I stayed on for a meditation session to finish the evening out.

A great ending to a Monday!