An Awesome Trend

We were recently bowled over by the generosity of employees at Trend Micro, who reached down deep before the holidays to help veterans who are trying to make it in the IT field.

Their generosity will help Creating IT Futures recruit more veterans to the IT-Ready Apprentice Program, which is launching in 2012.

Including the Foundation in the mix of worthy causes just made sense, said Mike Menegay, who oversaw the giving program while he was employed as the company’s VP of Global Alliances.

"Trend Micro's success is in a large part due to the ability of employees to work as a team," said Menegay. "We thought that it would be great way to nurture that team spirit by doing a giving back to a cause that aligns so closely with our business.  The employees really stepped up to the plate."

For many of the Trend Micro employees who gave, it was a heart-felt decision.

“For me, the groups being served by the charity — veterans and displaced workers — made the decision to donate an easy one,” said Victoria Holmes. “I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been able to make my living in IT and technology companies for my entire career. This is my way of giving back to groups I support in other ways while helping to train future IT professionals.”

To show our appreciation and recognize their efforts, we’re featuring Trend Micro in this month’s “Kudos for Caring.” You can go there now and even click on their logo to “like” their Facebook page.

Wonder if a workplace giving campaign is something your company could do? Check out the well-written blog post on corporate philanthropy by our development director, Colleen Robbins. It’s a great “how-to” introduction for companies that may be just beginning to think about ways to give back.