Symantec’s Volunteer of the Quarter initiative highlights and rewards those employees who dedicate their time and talents to those in need. We have a long and proud history of encouraging our employees to volunteer. While the driving force of our efforts is largely altruistic, there is even more to volunteering than giving back to our communities. Volunteering makes our company a better place to work, so employees are helping both Symantec and the organizations they volunteer for.
This quarter, we recognize Martin Coughlan, Senior Engineering Manager and his volunteer efforts with local schools and Scouting Ireland. His Online Safety in the Community talks have expanded to include talks for parents! The $1,000 USD Symantec VoQ grant will be donated to Scouting Ireland.
As a member of the Symantec RuleSpace engineering team, I’m part of a group that is responsible for the web categorization software that powers many of Symantec’s parental control offerings. This role has given me unique insight into many of the threats that young people can face on the Internet. Because of this experience, and the fact that I have three young boys, I decided to participate in the Online Safety in the Community initiative. Last year, over the course of a five week period, I gave several Internet safety talks at my boys’ school in Dublin, Ireland. I spoke with each class, giving them examples of how to stay safe online. My work with the RuleSpace team has been useful for helping me prepare relevant information for the Internet safety training to the young students, and vice versa. The Online Safety talks have given me excellent insight into how children of all ages are using the Internet. It has also helped me to identify research areas that our engineering team might look into. This firsthand experience of interacting with our young people on the topic of online safety has strengthened my passion for offering the best service we can. Because of this volunteer work, the school’s Board of Management recently asked if I could offer a similar talk geared for parents. My wife runs an afterschool computer club and I have also helped her prepare content about Internet safety to share with her students.
I think it can be very easy to think we are too busy. I always hear people say that they would love to volunteer but they just don’t have the time. I don’t think I have more time than the average person, but it’s about making the time for things that are bigger than you.
I have been volunteering for some time now in other activities as well. I have been a Beaver Scouts leader for the 10th Kilternan Scout troop for five years now. All of my kids are in the Scouts. When the youngest started, one of the leaders approached me and asked if I would be interested in volunteering as a leader. I was a Scout when I was younger and had always enjoyed the outdoor aspect so I said yes. It’s about an hour and a half of time a week running meetings and one day a month for outdoor activities like a hike. We also do weekend and overnight camps throughout the year. It always amazes me how my “day-job” business skills and the volunteer work can overlap. I might do a Scouting course that challenges me to think a different way in approaching problems and vice versa.
The most gratifying aspect of the community service is the positive effect on the kids. Whether it’s coaxing them up a mountain or explaining the importance of being safe online, seeing them engaged is an uplifting feeling. Volunteering allows you to contribute in way that can actually make a difference and also a great way to get involved in your community.
The volunteer hours that I have logged in Symantec’s Dollars-for-Doers program has allowed the Scouts to go on valuable trips abroad. The whole troop would have had to do a whole day of fundraising to make the amount that was donated from Symantec. The $1,000 USD Symantec VoQ grant will help our troop take the older Scouts to the Kandersteg International Scout center in Switzerland this summer!
