Volunteering & Community

The cover of National Geographic magazine’s March 2015 issue is framed in my home office. The image of a staged moon landing, and five short sentences challenging common known facts serve as the backdrop for an ominous title: “The War on Science.” In the excellent article “The Age of Disbelief,” Joel Achenbach and photographer Richard Barnes quote geophysicist Marcia McNutt, now president of the National Academies of Sciences, who said, “scientific thinking has to be taught and sometimes it is not taught well,” and that struck a chord.

At Visa, we are committed to doing our part to get those affected by disasters back on their feet as quickly as possible. That’s why we have created the Hurricane Area Store Locator to help those impacted identify open businesses in affected areas providing necessities such as groceries, gas, hardware or lodging.

Rachel Scandling, Strategy and Optimisation Lead, left a career in the Royal Navy to join Barclays two years ago. She tells us about volunteering as a mentor to girls from disadvantaged backgrounds – and why she’s passionate about helping people achieve “incredible transformations”.

Volkswagen Group of America (VWGoA) recently concluded its inaugural Get Involved “Summer of Service” in which more than 450 employees around the country volunteered over 1400 hours with charitable organizations in the communities where they live and work. The Summer of Service featured more than 25 different employee volunteer projects organized by seven VWGoA locations across the United States.

CSX (Nasdaq: CSX) was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for North America for the seventh consecutive year, recognizing the company’s leadership in sustainable and responsible business practices. CSX was the only U.S.-based railroad and one of only three transportation companies included on the North American index in 2017.

Conducting operations while not depleting the resources these operations depend on is the pinnacle of any company pursuing sustainability. With countless factors to consider when tackling environmental or economically sustainable initiatives, many companies struggle to find a starting point. Some even quit before they begin.

Every year, PayPal hosts a four-week long coding camp across five campuses in the U.S. that is open to kids of PayPal employees, introducing them to coding in fun and creative ways. This year, with nearly 90 employee volunteers and 190 kid participants across San Jose, Omaha, Scottsdale, Austin and Timonium, it resulted in our most successful program yet.

“The single biggest indicator for academic success is having books at home,” said Fatima Yousef, the 16-year-old founder of the nonprofit Stories for a Future. While it’s a statistic she knows by heart, she also knows that having books may not be a reality for many low-income youth.

Carnival Cruise Line’s Captain Vittorio Marchi and other volunteers from Carnival Spirit worked shoulder to shoulder with the local community at Lifou in New Caledonia playing their part in an international movement to clean up the world's coast lines.

Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, has released a new report, “Inspiring and Leading in Times of Change: Insights and Best Practices from The 2017 Civic 50.” The Civic 50 provides a national standard for superior corporate citizenship and showcases how companies can use their time, skills and other resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business.