November 2012
Paws for a Cause: Canine Climbers Raise Money for Special Operations Families
MITRE's Marcie and Eric Zaharee were searching for a way to raise funds and awareness for a very special cause. Learn how the Zaharees—joined by their two eager dogs—are climbing New Hampshire's mountains to raise funds for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
September 2012
In the Wake of Devastation, Volunteers Bring Relief to Colorado Springs
The wildfire that tore through 18,000 acres of forest near Colorado Springs last June left hundreds homeless and killed two residents. As the fire blazed out of control, MITRE employees volunteered their technical skills and energy to benefit firefighters and evacuees.
March 2012
MITRE Assists at VA Jobs Fair
Twenty-one MITRE employees played a supporting role at the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) VA for Vets Career Fair and Expo on Jan. 18, using eight to 10 hours of civic time.
November 2011
Volunteering Comes Full Circle
The volunteer firefighters of El Paso County, Colorado, depend on the Pikes Peak Firefighters Association’s Rehab Services Unit for blood pressure and carbon monoxide checks, snacks and drinks, and much more, at the scene of each fire. MITRE's Lynn Van Sickler is on hand to help.
November 2011
Answering the Call for EMT Volunteers
MITRE lead multi-discipline systems engineer Dennis Popiela is one of 1,300 volunteer staffers of the City of Virginia Beach Department of Emergency Medical Services, which has the distinction of being the largest volunteer-based emergency medical service system in the United States.
October 2011
Building Connections, Helping Those in Need
Diane Carpenter had always been involved with community organizations, but a trip to Guatemala with her daughter, Kathyrn, last year re-ignited her passion for involvement.
August 2011
Chris Spirito's Global Ties That Heal
Often, you don't need a special skill to do good works for others. You simply apply what you already know to a community in need. And in these globally networked times, that community might be half a world away.
July 2011
Teaching Students About Innovation
MITRE lead multi-discipline systems engineer John Michitson has long been involved in public service, both as a volunteer for various charitable causes and as an elected official in his hometown of Haverhill, Mass. But Michitson says he's always looking for his next volunteer challenge.
May 2011
Working with AIDS Widows in Zambia
Carol Elliot, a MITRE business analyst, recently traveled to the city of Lusaka in Zambia to volunteer with the Chikumbuso project. She and her 21-year-old daughter, Sarah, spent 10 days assisting the women with the production of woven craft bags made from recycled plastic bags.
May 2011
An Eye-Opening Volunteer Trip
Ravi Athale, head of MITRE's Emerging Technologies group, knew he would encounter people with deeply entrenched problems during a recent volunteer trip to central India. But Athale was pleasantly surprised to realize that his scientific training could provide long-term benefits to the organization.
January 2011
Toys for Tots: A Holiday Tradition at MITRE
Thanks to Carlene Osmer and others at MITRE, the Toys for Tots program has become a holiday tradition. For over a decade, Osmer—site administrative leader at MITRE's Huntsville, Ala., office—has helped to support the program, which collects new, unwrapped toys and games for underprivileged children.
December 2010
From the Troops, A Gift of Old Glory
A flag with potent patriotic resonance now graces MITRE's campus, serving as a "thank you" from U.S. troops for the efforts employees have made on their behalf.
November 2010
Asha-Jyothi: Education and Healthcare for the Underprivileged
As a graduate student, MITRE principal information systems engineer Sri Vasireddy witnessed firsthand the difficulties encountered by immigrant students' families when tragedies such as serious illness struck. With basic healthcare and primary education out of reach for many in his native India, Vasireddy realized that support from relatives and friends in the United States can make a significant difference in the lives of underprivileged individuals.
October 2010
A Pie in the Face for Charity
It started with a simple idea—organizing a food drive for a local charity in Colorado Springs. Drawing on the site's deeply engrained tradition of community involvement, it soon turned into a months-long, all-out campaign.
May 2010
Mountainside Miracles
Growing up in the southern New Jersey beach town of Margate, Beth Halley and her family never took summer vacations. "We had the shore in the summer, so we went on winter ski trips instead," says Halley, a principal healthcare information systems consultant in MITRE's Center for Transforming Health.
April 2010
MITRE's Helping Hand for Haiti
The earthquake (which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale) caused massive damage to the country's physical infrastructure as well to its information technology—including the ability to share critical data with responders. But thanks to a commercial satellite imagery receiving and processing system known as Eagle Vision, help was on the way almost immediately.
November 2009
Three Weeks, Three Themes, Three Teams
In just one day, members of MITRE's Enterprise Systems Engineering and Integration division made 3,600 breakfast sandwiches, prepared 600 salads, set 150 bags of mulch, painted six rooms, and assembled 114 care packages for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
May 2009
Supporting Our Troops, One Card at a Time
Perhaps your "to do" list each May includes buying a Mother's Day card. Easy enough to accomplish at the grocery store, the bookstore, or the drugstore, right? Not so for soldiers serving in Iraq or Afghanistan—particularly those stationed in remote areas.
January 2009
Staying Connected with Family Serving in Iraq
After 9/11, Jill Braceland's two sons joined the Massachusetts National Guard. When her son, James, was deployed to Iraq in 2004, Braceland sought a way to navigate this uncharted water. She found answers and support through the Family Readiness Group (FRG) of the 727 Chemical Corps of the MA National Guard. "As a mother, there was no way for me to fully understand my son's culture in the Guard," explains Braceland, a diversity and work life specialist in MITRE's human resources Quality of Work Life and Benefits division. "But I wanted to stay informed about what was going on with him, so when he was deployed, I looked into joining the FRG."
September 2008
Carrying on a Charitable Tradition
Growing up, Nazanin Eshragh would often go to the store, buy bags of rice, and leave them behind with the grocer, upon her father's instruction. "I found that so confusing," she recalls. Nazanin, a multi-discipline systems engineer at MITRE, only recently discovered that her trips to the store were helping people in need.
July 2008
The Gift of a Future—Donating Blood and Bone Marrow
On a regular basis, William Sax, a MITRE principal network systems and distributed systems engineer, adds a new dimension of multitasking to his life. Every few weeks, he uses his Blackberry to stay connected to the office—responding to email and making and receiving phone calls—while he donates red blood cells, platelets, and plasma at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
January 2008
A Marathon Walk for Cancer
For Sharon Ravan, what began as an effort to stay in shape has become an annual march against a deadly disease. "After I turned 40, I decided to take up walking to keep myself young," explains Ravan, resident security officer in MITRE's Special Security Office in Bedford. "I was looking for a yearly event to train for, with a hilly and challenging route."
January 2008
Repairing Houses and Hopes
The first week in August each year, Dorothea (Dolly) Greenwood leaves the traffic and busyness of Northern Virginia behind for the tranquility of a town of 300 in the southwest corner of Virginia. She doesn't go to the Appalachian town of Dungannon for rest and relaxation, however. She goes to help teenagers learn how to repair houses of some of the Commonwealth's poorest residents.
January 2008
Human Tracking: A Behind the Scenes Look
Whenever a search and rescue effort for a missing person in the Washington, DC, metro area is launched, MITRE's Randall Burleson knows he may be called. Burleson, an analyst in our Center for Acquisition and Systems Analysis, is a volunteer human tracker with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM).
June 2007
Dorothy Phillips: A Gift of Caring
Dorothy Phillips knows the difference that caring can make. An office administrative specialist in MITRE's Facilities and Administration department, Phillips spends three nights a week providing support to terminally ill people and their families as a hospice volunteer.
June 2007
Going Out to Help in Colorado
Though she can hear the shush of her skis carving a path through the snow and feel the air fan her face as she gathers momentum, the 93-year-old woman cannot see the steep slope ahead of her. Blinded by macular degeneration, Elsa cannot marvel at the breathtaking scenery of the Colorado Rockies. But thanks to MITRE engineer Beth Blakney, she can experience the thrill of a downhill run with a 1,400 foot vertical drop.
May 2007
Taking the Plunge for Special Olympics
Not even a frigid February in New Hampshire—when the average temperature is 20 degrees Fahrenheit and the snow fall total is around 40 inches—can stop MITRE information security engineer Rosalie McQuaid from participating in the "Penguin Plunge," an annual dip into the cold Atlantic Ocean to raise money for Special Olympics.
May 2007
Alan Brooks: Vietnam Volunteering Is a Family Affair
With two of their three children adopted from Asia, MITRE Senior Software Systems Engineer Alan Brooks and his wife Sheri make maintaining ties with their children's cultural heritage a priority. "My oldest son was born in Korea, my second son was born in Massachusetts, and my daughter was born in Vietnam," explains Brooks.
December 2006
Locks of Love Donations Are Gifts from the Heart
Getting a haircut is a routine chore for most of us, but for those considering shedding Rapunzel-like tresses, it is also a golden opportunity to make a difference in a child's life. The first time Bryn Dews, a MITRE human factors engineer, cut her lengthy locks in the late 1980s, she held onto the 14-inch braid for over a year, searching for a way to donate it to someone making wigs for people with medical hair loss.
November 2006
The MERIT of Volunteering
When it comes to volunteering, the more really is the merrier—and it makes for a bigger impact. Jay Vittori, a lead operations analyst, had this idea in mind in January 2005 when he set out to found a volunteer club with his coworkers at MITRE's Langley site in Hampton, Va. His plan was to increase camaraderie at the site while providing what he describes as a "painless and rewarding" way to give back to the community. The result is MERIT, a group that organizes regular volunteer activities for employees at MITRE's Hampton and Norfolk, Va., sites.
June 2006
MITRE Volunteers Bring Comfort from the Storm
When Hurricane Katrina tore across the Gulf Coast late last August, it took the lives of more than 1,800 people, displaced hundreds of thousands more, and caused $115 billion in property damage. As many communities struggled to cope with the crisis, MITRE employees, both as individuals and in small groups, came to their aid.
May 2006
Homing in on Housing Needs: MITRE Volunteers are Resident Experts
Dozens of staff throughout the corporation have dedicated time and "sweat equity" to Habitat for Humanity (HFH), a nationwide non-profit organization that invites volunteers to build houses for families in need. By venturing forth into the community, these MITRE employees are helping make the dream of affordable housing a reality.
February 2006
Dressed for Success: MITRE Volunteers Outfit Veterans for New Civilian Careers
The Suits for Vets effort was launched at MITRE by the late Dr. Bob Shepherd, Director of Information Systems Engineering at the Center for Enterprise Modernization (CEM), in response to a request for help from Jeannie Lehowicz, a longtime friend and neighbor who works with wounded veterans at Walter Reed and Bethesda Medical Centers.
August 2005
Making a Commitment for the Cause
When Alisia Quickel decided to make the commitment to participate in this year's Washington, D.C. Avon Breast Cancer Walk, she was prepared to endure the challenging 26.2 mile trek through Georgetown, Embassy Row, Chinatown, and other roads in Washington, D.C. And even though the weekend turned out to be full of other challenges that would test her endurance, Alisia never lost sight of her main goal—to help find a cure for breast cancer.
July 2005
Meet a MA/D Team
It's not unusual for Lisa Harper's beeper to go off in the middle of the night. After a short phone call for details, she quickly dresses, grabs the necessary gear and jumps into her SUV along with BB. Her dog, Oberon (aka BB), has been eagerly waiting for her since he heard the beeper. Lisa and her Shiloh Shepherd are an air-scent search and rescue (SAR) dog team, on call 24 hours a day with the Mid-Atlantic D.O.G.S. (MA/D).
May 2004
MITRE Employees Prowl "The Nation's Attic"
On your next visit to any of the 16 Smithsonian Institution museums, take a quick glance toward the information desks near the entrances. Depending on what day you come, you might find some familiar faces seated behind the desks assisting visitors.
March 2004
Walking for the Cure
Each year in Washington D.C., a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Walk to Cure Diabetes takes place. Max Rosen found out about this event six years ago when his daughter Sydney, now 14, was diagnosed with Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes.
January 2004
Bill Scally Makes The Right Connections
It isn't every day you can make a major impact in your community's cable service. Last year, Bill Scally, a network engineer in the ISIS networking group in Bedford, had the opportunity to attend a town meeting in his hometown of Shirley, Mass. and discuss the telecommunications issues with a representative from the local cable company.
December 2003
Holiday Angels Take Flight at MITRE
For the fifth year in a row, Mary Lou Sicard is managing the "Angel Tree" program in Bedford. The nearby Salvation Army chapter in Lowell, Mass., sends Sicard the names and wish lists of approximately 300 underprivileged children, who are hoping for a little something on Christmas morning. Their requests are relatively modest, from a new pair of mittens to a favorite plush toy character.
November 2003
San Diego Site Has An Appetite for Community Service
When the holiday season comes around each year, employees at MITRE's San Diego location roll up their sleeves and get busy. Not only do they prepare bountiful meals for their own families; they take time out to ensure that their less fortunate neighbors also have food on their tables. This autumn, for the third year in a row, employees will be joining forces with the San Diego Food Bank to sort and deliver care packages to the needy around the city.
October 2003
Technology Helps Thai Village to Grow
Last February, Tom Green accompanied his wife Daeng (pronounced "dang") on a trip to the Issan region in northeast Thailand, where she grew up and her relatives still reside. The purpose for the Greens' voyage was multifold. Not only did they plan to visit family in Nong Sang village and catch up on local happenings, they also made arrangements to host a catered lunch for all 300 students at the elementary/middle school Daeng attended as a child.
August 2003
Humanitarian Trip to Montserrat
As Vice President of the Sterling Virginia Rescue Squad and an American Heart Association Basic Life Support Instructor Trainer, Philip J. "PJ" Azzolina was prepared for the humanitarian trip to the West Indies island of Montserrat to teach its health care providers life support skills.
June 2003
Red Alert: Serving On The Front Lines of the Red Cross
When fires, floods, or other calamities occur in northern Massachusetts or southern New Hampshire, Carl Greenbaum is usually among the first to arrive on the scene. Greenbaum is a Red Cross volunteer who currently serves as the organization's Disaster Chairperson for the Merrimack Valley region, and his team's responsibilities include providing comfort during tragedy and immediate housing assistance for displaced families.
April 2003
Adopt an Army Unit
Being away from home during the holidays is hard. But when the 299th Engineering Company, Army Corps of Engineers (Ft. Belvoir Unit) deployed to Southeast Asia last November, they were looked after and supported by MITRE employees, thanks to the help of Joann Baker and her project—"Adopt an Army Unit."
January 2003
Volunteering to Save Lives
If you live near Amherst, New Hampshire, and see a medical emergency vehicle, it may be Shaun Morrissey rushing to a possible life-and-death situation.
