Celebrate #GivingTuesday with Five9

With contributions by Alondra Mendoza

Five9 employees love to give back -- a spirit of service guides us! From serving our community, serving our customers, and serving each other, we strive to make the world a better place. #GivingTuesday reimagines a world built upon shared humanity and generosity. This year our culture ambassadors, Employee Resource Group (ERG) leaders, club leaders, and super volunteers, have banded together to share opportunities to give back. Check out their suggestions on how to celebrate this important movement.  

ERGs 

• BlatinX – Year Up 
  
  Year Up's mission is to close the Opportunity Divide by ensuring that young adults gain the skills, experiences, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through careers and higher education. 
  
  “YearUp gives high school students tangible and intangible skills they can take into their careers and beyond. It's a holistic program providing internships in top corporate work environments -- teaching students invaluable skills, and how to manage their time, finances, and classes."  – Maia Andrews, Executive Assistant, Marketing  
   

• Pride@Five9 – Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) 
  
  When a loved one comes out, PFLAG has all of the support and information needed.
  
  “The mission of Pride at Five9 is to provide education and support to our Five9 colleagues and their friends/families. PFLAG aligns with Pride at Five9 because of the support they provide to families, allies, and the LGBTQ+ community. Join us in helping move equality forward by amplifying the unique PFLAG family and ally voice.”  – Colby Clark, Sr ENT Solution Consult & Jess Shea, Sr Partner Marketing Manager 

• Five9 Faith – NAMI 
  
  NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. 
  
  “Mental Health continues to be at the forefront of our hearts in the Faith Community. We want to continue to offer hope, acceptance, and encouragement to those that are struggling with Mental Health. NAMI provides a national platform with local resources in every state to care for their communities.” – Five9Faith 
  
   
• Five9 Women in Tech – Toys for Tots (code FIVE9 at check out) 
  
  Delivering Hope to Less Fortunate Children 
  
  “We want to spread as much holiday happiness to underserved youth as possible. We encourage our team to purchase STEAM/educational gifts to grow excitement for science, technology and the arts.” 
  – Maggie Sievers, Program Manager, Services & Alex Hayden-Boyd, Director, Agile Delivery 
    

• Dialed-in-Crew – Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired Charity 
  
  Vista Center empowers individuals who are blind or visually impaired to embrace life to the fullest through evaluation, counseling, education and training.  
  
  “The Dialed in Crew (DIC) wanted to pick an organization that supports a diverse community that typically is unrecognized. Vista Center helps improve the value of life for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Given that DIC works to improve the employee experience here at Five9, we felt Vista Center was a perfect fit. We hope you’ll consider donating towards this worthy cause.”  – Mikaela Adolphus, Business Development Representative   

Groups 

• Five9 Rockstars – Project Avary 
  
  A national leader in supporting children with incarcerated parents. 
  
  “Every child deserves comfort, community, dignity, and opportunity. The work Project Avary is doing helps transform kids into counselors, mentors, and leaders.”  – Michael Quinn, Area Director, TAM  
   

• Five9 Runners – Susan G. Komen  
  
  This is our moment of hope. End breast cancer forever with us. 
  
  "Breast cancer has touched so many lives and recently my mom passed away from breast cancer. Would like to contribute to helping find a cure.”  – Danny Wang, Director, Product Management   

Individuals  

• Harby Clor, Technical Support Engineer – Kalye Kalinga PH 
  
  In his spare time, Harby and his partner aid stray cats and dogs, in which Harby states, “We started this project to aid our voiceless fur friends, spread awareness that they exist in our community, and that they need our help to find their fur-ever family.”  
   
• Srabasti Banerjee, Sr. Data Engineer – Women in Big Data 
  
  “I've been a volunteer with Women in Big Data for over 5 years, from planning events, to helping with technical training sessions, networking, inspiring and empowering transition into Big Data/Cloud, contributing to increase diversity in the workplace in the long run. There's always some good you can lend your talents to!” 
   
• Wunmi Kamson, Project Manager, Engineering – Brain and Body Foundation 
  
  “I have personal experience and am deeply committed to ending Sickle Cell Disease. I am currently raising funds to support The Brain and Body Foundation and their work to support those living with the Sickle Cell Disease by providing well-researched, well-proven, and safe modalities that impact a Healthy and Comfortable lifestyle. The Brain and Body foundation's primary purpose is to help reduce the physical and emotional burden of these conditions, by using innovative approaches to promote healing, repair, and strengthening of brain cells/tissue.” 

We hope you all feel inspired to give back this year and become an ally by supporting these amazing organizations and those within each of their communities. Share how you're giving back on this special day by posting on social platforms and using the hashtag #GivingTuesday or #GivingTuesday2021. Join the movement and help Five9 make this #GivingTuesday one to remember!