Have you participated yet in #HSITAGgivesback?
Led by the Human Services Information Technology Group (HSITAG), CompTIA’s HHS public sector council, #HSITAGgivesback is a social media and virtual giving campaign that will run throughout the month of May. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge our world, HSITAG designed this campaign for two reasons: 1)help support local communities in need and 2)promote virtual comradery amongst our member community since we haven’t been able to meet in person.
HSITAG’s Charitable Giving Committee, in collaboration with the Membership Development, Industry Collaboration, and Communications and Marketing Committees, spearheaded the campaign. The challenge calls for members to use their LinkedIn accounts to post acts of giving and challenge their colleagues to share their good deeds while also continuing to tag and nominate others.
Now at the campaign’s halfway point, we are proud to report that 100 acts of giving have been posted, with over 25 member companies participating. This collective charitable giving has spanned 27 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and the countries of Ireland and Nicaragua.
In addition to spreading a spirit of giving among our members, we are also working with many of our regular HSITAG guests and partners to support their causes. For example, NYC Administration for Children's Services (ACS), a longtime HSITAG collaborator, recommended several areas of need for us to consider:
- ACS’s non-profit partner, New Yorkers For Children, is raising support to help the families respond to this crisis. You can find more about their work, and opportunities to contribute on their website.
- World Central Kitchen (WCK) is providing meals to ACS's frontline staff at the Nicholas Scoppetta Children’s Center, a vital foster care in-take center for NYC children. Some members have already supported WCK as part of the challenge! You can support WCK on their website.
From food bank drop offs, blood donations, and care package deliveries, #HSITAGgivesback is spreading kindness in communities across the country. Many of the posts have revealed personal passions, and some of our members are engaging their entire families to share in the outreach. HSITAG Chair, Jacque Gombach, was joined by her nieces and nephews in supporting Slice Out Hunger. Karen Rewalt, Charitable Giving Committee Chair, leveraged her children’s artistic abilities to make homemade cards that were affixed to care packages created for homeless families with Cornerstones in Fairfax, VA.
Other acts of giving leveraged technology directly. Tristan Louis, shared the results of a project he was a part of called Help Main Street!- a platform set up for local giving that has connected over 100,000 local business with opportunities for direct purchasing. Emily O’Neil has volunteered to be on-call support for the ICU FamilyLink program which enables contact between families, patients and the clinical teams providing care at University Hospital Galway. We know there are more of you out there ready to help!
There is still time for you to support your community, favorite charity, or anyone in need. Please follow #HSITAGgivesback on LinkedIn and make your post today. We encourage any and all acts of kindness. We are all in this together!
