Giving Back with Time and Paint

One of the great things about Cisco is our spirit of giving back. We have a goal to positively impact 1 billion lives by 2025, and we are all asked to give something of ourselves.

Recently, a group of us took this to heart. Leaders from across Cisco’s Service Provider business – including my leadership team and I – rolled up our sleeves and spent an afternoon with LifeMoves, the largest nonprofit committed to ending the cycle of homelessness in California’s San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. This amazing organization provides interim housing and services for homeless families and individuals, with over 750 clients per night, half of whom are children.

We spent an afternoon prepping and painting rooms in a former sorority house that will now welcome homeless families. We are usually focused on customer solutions, sales and marketing strategies, and engineering innovations… but this day, we were all about providing a safe, comfortable space for families to be together and be supported on their journey to stable housing and long-term sufficiency. I think we were all happy with the end results, and I hope the residents are, too!

Cisco is also working to end homelessness through a five-year, $50 million commitment to Destination: Home, a San Jose-based public/private partnership providing permanent housing to chronically homeless people. These are just two examples of so many throughout Cisco – driven by individuals, teams, and offices worldwide – of people giving back to those who need our help the most. You can read more about Cisco’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility here.

I encourage you to look at what you can do, either individually or with your team. Paint a room, build a house, serve a meal, pack food boxes, sort clothing, re-mediate blight… whatever calls to you, step up and get involved! A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.