DALLAS, April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Instruments (TI) announced today the winners of its fourth annual TI Founders Community Service Awards, honoring 12 individuals and 3 teams of volunteers for their exceptional community service efforts worldwide. For each award, TI will give $1,000 to the nonprofit agency that the volunteers served. This year's total $15,000 contribution will benefit communities near TI sites in Dallas and Plano, Texas; Santa Clara, California; South Portland, Maine; Longmont Colorado; Shanghai, China; Freising, Germany; Bagio City and Clark Freeport Zone, Philippines; and Melaka, Malaysia.
Each year, during the U.S. National Volunteer Week (this year April 22-26), TI honors the contributions its employees make in the communities where the company operates. In 2012, TI employees tracked 66,000 volunteer hours and donated countless hours of their own time globally.
"We are delighted to recognize and support the enthusiasm and commitment of TI employees from all over the world," said Trisha Cunningham, TI Corporate Citizenship Officer. "People see some of the great things our employees are doing in the community, and they tell us that's one of the reasons why they want to work for TI. It's a differentiator in the workplace. People want to work for companies that are socially responsible. It also builds leadership skills, teamwork and morale for our employees."
Nominations were judged on several criteria, including the impact the volunteer work had on the community and the leadership that the individual or team exhibited. An independent panel of judges named the following individuals and teams as 2013 winners:
Dallas, TX
Robin Bray
After being diagnosed with early stage breast cancer nearly four years ago, Robin Bray has been actively involved in supporting breast cancer awareness through Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure®. Her fundraising efforts and personal donations to this cause have totaled almost $15,000, helping to fund local breast cancer education, screening and treatment programs as well as groundbreaking breast cancer research.
Xinfen Chen
Making vibrant youth programs available to the Chinese community in North Texas is extremely important to Xinfen Chen. As a volunteer at the Dallas Modern Chinese Language School (DMCLS) for more than a decade, she enabled several successful youth programs. As the school's treasurer, she gave 80 teachers and board members the opportunity to serve 400 students in the most effective way.
Kumar Parthasarathy
For more than 10 years, Kumar Parthasarathy has been making a difference in the lives of children in the U.S. and India by serving as a volunteer with "Vibha—Help Them Grow." This nonprofit's vision is to ensure that every underprivileged child attains his or her right to education, health and opportunity. Under his leadership as the Dallas coordinator, fundraising for the chapter doubled and the number of volunteers increased fourfold.
Becky Schlatholt
Becky Schlatholt has been volunteering and raising funds in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Walk to Cure Diabetes for more than 20 years. During the past six years, she has served as JDRF's logistics chairman for the Dallas walk, where she leads a team of nine volunteers that plan every aspect of the walk. Her efforts paid off with a successful walk, resulting in more than 7,000 walkers participating and $1.3 million being raised in 2012 alone.
Charlie Weinberger
Charlie Weinberger is a multi-faceted volunteer and advocate. Not only does he actively support his community through the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, but he has also been involved in several technology initiatives that improve public education, including the Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST) Robotics competition and summer technology camps. For the past 10 years, Weinberger has participated as a leader in almost every one of TI's annual United Way campaigns.
TI Worldwide Design & Sales Facilities team
TI's Worldwide Design & Sales Facilities (WWDSF) team is committed to supporting Dallas-area communities. In addition to coordinating two large-scale United Way "Days of Impact" volunteer events in 2012, WWDSF team members take on special projects throughout the year and encourage others to participate.
Longmont, CO
Kevin Vannorsel
Kevin Vannorsel founded the nonprofit R12 Charities in 2010 to provide assistance to those in the Denver area who are unable to afford necessary auto maintenance and repairs. It also offers a trustworthy place for those who wish to make tax-deductible financial contributions to support the effort. To date, the nonprofit has helped nearly 150 area families by providing more than $29,000 in professional auto repair services.
Santa Clara, CA
Hari Rediawan
Hari Rediawan has a passion for cooking and helping homeless children, veterans and the mentally ill. For the past 10 years, he has brought his two passions together once a month by leading a team of volunteers that serve hot meals at InnVision Shelter Network (IVSN). IVSN is Silicon Valley's leading nonprofit provider of housing, shelter and services to the homeless.
Diane Trevino
Diane Trevino touches thousands of lives every year through her service at the Family Giving Tree (FGT), Sacred Heart Community Service and other area nonprofit organizations. She is also an active participant in TI's community outreach programs and projects, spending hundreds of hours serving as a volunteer each year and leading by example to encourage children and young adults to be of service to others.
South Portland, ME
Crystal Nadeau
Crystal Nadeau is on a mission to help some of Kenya's most desperate orphaned and abused children. As part of her efforts to support Flying Kites, a global nonprofit that provides high quality residential care to children through a "Family House" concept, she raised the funds needed to sponsor 25 children in 2012 and generated a great deal of awareness along the way.
Melaka, Malaysia
Ching Huei "CH" Chen
As a qualified first aid trainer, TI employee Ching Huei "CH" Chen has given hundreds of people in Melaka, Malaysia, the first aid knowledge and skills they need to serve their communities and save lives. Chen is an active volunteer in St. John Ambulance Malaysia, a nonprofit organization that provides first aid and community services to the public.
Freising, Germany
Alexander Hoisl
During the past 25 years, Alexander Hoisl has volunteered for the Technisches Hilfswerk (THW), a Federal agency for technical relief controlled by the German government. Hoisl has been responsible for several key tasks, such as ensuring all volunteers receive the proper training on how to use, operate and handle hydraulic rescue tools for use in accidents and disasters. He also specializes in securing and stabilizing damaged buildings.
Philippines
Marlie De Guzman
After joining the TIPI Mountaineering Society more than five years ago, TI employee Marlie De Guzman, who works at TI's facility in Bagio City, decided to help the group incorporate community outreach projects into its charter. Now, as they trek across mountain peaks, the group brings donated books, clothing and canned foods to people in nearby communities.
TI Clark Community Involvement Team
The members of the TI Clark Community Involvement Team in the Philippines initiated two large-scale programs in 2012 that supported area schools and spearheaded many other activities aimed at helping citizens in their local community.
Shanghai, China
Shanghai Junior Achievement Volunteer Team
The more than 30 TI members of the Shanghai Junior Achievement (JA) volunteer team are passionate about education and sharing their experiences with the next generation. Last July, these volunteers held a "Job Shadow Day" at the TI Research & Development (R&D) and Fortune Tower offices in Shanghai, China to provide a meaningful work-day experience for 40 high school students.
The TI Founders Community Service Awards are named in honor of TI founders J. Erik Jonsson, Eugene McDermott, Cecil Green and Pat Haggerty, who set a high standard for TI employees to be involved in their communities.
Created in 2010 for TI's 80th anniversary, the TI Founders Community Service Awards recognize employees worldwide. The award winners were selected by an independent panel of judges consisting of education and community leaders from the various states and countries in which TI has a major presence.
About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company that develops analog ICs and embedded processors. By employing the world's brightest minds, TI creates innovations that shape the future of technology. TI is helping more than 100,000 customers transform the future, today. Learn more at www.ti.com.
SOURCE Texas Instruments Incorporated