IQ’s Social Good Committee strives to have a positive impact in the communities around us! The Committee has a vision to better the world and lives of others around us through the work that we do. There are social impact causes that are near and dear to each one of us and we’d like to continue to nurture those interests.
Here is a recap of some of the team’s initiatives from 2021.
- In early 2021 we donated coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and creamer to the Blackburn Center in Greensburg. Blackburn Center advocates for the rights of all individuals to live free from domestic and sexual violence and other forms of violence by eliminating the root causes of this violence and providing for the well-being and safety of survivors/victims.
- We met with involvement in the Spring of 2021. involveMINT enables communities to create their own money to address poverty and protect the environment. A few of our employees continue to provide technical advice to this organization during their personal time.
- We also set up boxes in the office to collect used eyeglasses, cell phones, and toiletry donations. Eyeglasses are donated to the Lions Club for their Lions Recycle for Sight Program (This program helps to provide sight to children and adults alike through their global outreach). Used cell phones can be wiped and then donated to the Women’s Shelter, and some of our toiletry items were placed into backpacks for the CISPAC Back to School event.
- Our CISPAC Back to School event held in August was a HUGE success! We donated almost 50 backpacks, and a variety of school supplies such as calculators, pencils, pens, notebooks, markers, etc. All items went to kids in our region!
- Throughout the year we teamed up with Vitalant for virtual blood drives.
- Our Fall Activities, for the most part, were geared around volunteer efforts with the University of Pittsburgh! Virtual outreach events for PittSWE (SWE=Society of Women Engineers) were held throughout the Fall and their annual SWE++ Coding for Middle School Girls Program (which helps to introduce middle school girls to the field of technology) was a hit! Middle Schoolers that participate learn about coding through weekly sessions and a variety of tech topics are also discussed. In the past we volunteered on campus, but over the last two years these events were held virtually.
- The Give Big Pittsburgh event wrapped up our Social Good Initiatives of 2021. This all-day event is an annual virtual event that kicks off the charitable giving season. We were able to help two amazing organizations raise much-needed funds. Between RonaldMcDonald House and CISPAC we donated $3,500!!!