Apple employees volunteer time and money for a fairer world

The soup kitchen at St. Bart’s hasn’t missed a night of food service in 36 years.

Apple employees are making valuable voluntary work and contributions as caring people everywhere attempt to mop up some of the consequences of unequal distribution of wealth and a world in permanent crisis.

The company says its employee donation and volunteering programs have raised nearly $725 million over the last decade. The report also takes note of some really noteworthy contributions people who work at Apple are doing on a voluntary basis.

People showing a little care

Apple corporate team member Mandy Haven logs onto the Crisis Text Line platform from her home in Fremont, California to speak with people across the country who are dealing with difficult personal situations.

The organization anonymously connects those in crisis to a volunteer who has been trained by professionals to listen and offer support. Since joining in during the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, Haven has logged over 400 hours of support. Because this work is part of Apple’s Employee Giving program; Apple matches every hour an employee volunteers, or dollar they donate, with a monetary donation to the same organization.

“It makes me so happy that Apple helps to magnify the time I put into this,” says Haven. “The money goes to such an amazing organization that is meeting people where they are during a really difficult time.”

In New York, Apple retail worker, Tom Sheppard has been volunteering to help teach children. He has volunteered 1,000 hours, which has also raised thousands from Apple’s Giving program.

“Find the thing you’re passionate about, figure out how you can share that with other people, and then see how Apple can help you amplify sharing it,” says Sheppard, who also started programs that included an iPad photo club and a course to help parents get their high school diploma. “Sharing my love of technology was so important because it was exposing these kids to something they didn’t have access to before — and maybe that opens up a future of more opportunity.”

Also read: Apple may reach $358/share, says Morgan Stanley

Employee Giving

Apple’s Employee Giving program is ten this year and has raised nearly $725 million for 39,000 organizations worldwide — with over $120 million distributed to organizations around the globe in 2021 alone. The funds raised through Apple’s Employee Giving program include the work of 68,000 employees who have logged almost 2 million volunteer hours.

Apple’s Community Investment team also donates millions of dollars each year to nonprofits around the globe, including World Central Kitchen, The King Center, and China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation. In addition, it runs a Strengthen Local Communities (SLC) grant program, which funds local organizations in communities.

Tom Sheppard helped to launch clubs at Public School 41 that introduced iPad, photography, film, and other STEAM programming to hundreds of students.

Feeding homeless people

One program it supports with SLC is the Grand Central Food Program, one of many services provided by the Coalition for the Homeless to support vulnerable people in New York City. This offers soup kitchens, which have seen numbers treble since COVID-19. Juan De La Cruz, director of the Grand Central Food Program, said:

“A lot of support programs closed down and so we’ve seen people coming from as far away as Staten Island because this is the one place that they know — rain or shine — there’s going to be a meal for them,” says De La Cruz. “We’ve been able to continue providing these meals because of support from so many organizations, including Apple and its employees, and that means the world to us.”

In Austin, Texas, SLC grants support the work of the African American Youth Harvest Foundation (AAYHF), which provides community-based resources for African American and low-income youth and families. That includes mentoring and counseling programs for at-risk youth, and a variety of other initiatives that take a holistic approach to care. This year, Apple’s funding went to AAYHF’s COVID-19 response, including a program to help raise vaccination rates by recruiting high school students to go door to door in their communities.

Supporting refugees in Ireland

Cork, Ireland, is home to the organization Nasc, which is the Irish word for link. Nasc works to support migrants (I do hate that word, these are people) and refugees in Ireland and offers a number of different resources including the Gateway program for women, which is supported by Apple’s SLC grants.

“Our aim is to meet women where they are and promote self-confidence, self-esteem, and inclusion,” says Claire Mackey, Gateway’s project coordinator. “Apple has helped to keep the project running, and has given us the flexibility to be creative with how we support women. It’s given us the reassurance that we can maintain the work, and that means so much to us and to the people we’re helping.”

There are currently 40 women from 14 different countries in the program, and they are often matched with volunteers to help with learning English, and to foster a sense of connection. Saba, from Jordan, was paired with Apple employee and volunteer Barbara Ito, who is originally from Japan but is now based in Singapore. The women spoke once a week for months.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.