Employee Volunteerism

Connecting to Opportunity

John Winters' sales territory encompasses a huge swath of his native Australia. A Cisco veteran with more than a decade's experience, he knows his territory well.

So when a friend mentioned a project to construct a new youth center on Palm Island—a poverty-stricken community of indigenous people about 10 miles off the coast of Queensland—Winters understood how important the project was to the island, and what would be needed to make it successful.

"I approached the government agency in charge of building the center and asked what they were considering in terms of Internet connectivity," he recalls. "It turned out, they weren't considering it at all."

According to Winters, the residents of the island are in real need, particularly the youth. "There's just nothing to do there," he explains. "There's no industry, no tourism. Unemployment is the norm, and there's precious little communication with the mainland." The new youth center will offer kids a place to go with after-school supervision, help with their homework, and activities engaging enough to keep at-risk kids out of trouble.

Winters arranged for the donation of Cisco networking equipment, including Local Area Network infrastructure (LAN) and telephony equipment. Then he approached several Cisco partner companies and secured their participation. IBM donated PCs to the project; Telstra—an Australian telecommunications company—provided Internet connectivity; and a local university agreed to donate IT time to get the center's network running. He even arranged for a local satellite provider to beam sports programming to the center.

"Ultimately, it was our business expertise that was more valuable to the project than the equipment we donated," he says. "We became 'trusted advisors' because we had existing relationships with technology partners and understood what was needed."

Winters is pleased with, and proud of, the result. "Eventually, the plan is to start a Networking Academy on Palm Island, which would really be a boon for the youth of the community."

"It wasn't difficult at all getting this off the ground," he recalls. "I'm in a branch office, so it was easy to get people here involved. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) people in our Sydney head office were also involved, primarily offering support and guidance when needed.

"Cisco Australia has always understood that it's not just about giving money, it's about using our business experience to make a difference. That's a message that's been coming out for years."