ISACA's First-Ever CommunITy Day Brings Together Staff, Members Worldwide to Make a Difference
On 5 October, 2019, ISACA’s inaugural worldwide day of volunteerism, CommunITy Day, brought together 2,800 volunteers around the world to give back to their communities. The event spanned one full day and kicked off in Auckland, New Zealand, and spread across the globe to Hawaii, USA.
ISACA staff, members from 91 chapters, and their family and friends spent the day volunteering their time in a variety of projects. Chapter leaders were tasked with identifying charitable partners, resulting in the creation of 122 local volunteer opportunities that participants could select from. Some projects were directly applicable to the business technology profession, while others simply helped make the world a better place, including these activities:
- Melbourne – Giving blood and volunteering at the Australian Red Cross blood drive
- Kenya – Giving donations, helping clean, and facilitating events at Heritage Faith and Hope Children’s Home
- Atlanta, Georgia – Packing healthy meals for children and families in need for the 1 Million Meal Pack initiative with the Atlanta Hawks professional basketball team
- Hong Kong – Giving a smartphone tutorial to seniors
- Valencia, Spain – Gathering to do a beach clean-up and promote environmental awareness
- Luxembourg – Crowdsourcing historical transcripts to learn about digital safety
- Malaysia – Preparing and serving comfort food for a marginalized community at Food for the Heart and Soul
- Chicago – Seed packing at Feed My Starving Children
- Windhoek, Namibia – Volunteering at the Namibia National Cybersecurity Competition
- Bogota – Planting trees for reforestation
“To see the passion and dedication of our members in action in their communities was truly inspiring and at times, emotional,” said Melissa Swartz, senior manager of volunteer engagement. “ISACA has brought together professionals from around the world for 50 years to advance their industries, and we are setting the stage to continue to positively impact the world together long into the future.”
Overall, 51 countries were represented during ISACA CommunITy Day, and volunteers logged more than 6,100 hours of service.
As Karey Barker from the ISACA St. Louis Chapter commented, “CommunITy Day - a worthwhile endeavor to honor ISACA's past 50 years and make a difference locally and globally for the next 50!”
Start planning now to participate in this new ISACA tradition next year; CommunITy Day will take place annually on the first Saturday in October. To learn about more this year’s activities and their impact, visit the ISACA CommunITy Day page on the Engage website.
