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When Robert Inouye, a senior IT senior consultant for Oracle, signed up with the Redwood-city based organization Friends for Youth to be a mentor for a polite teen boy named Marvin, he had no idea it would lead to an almost 20-year commitment to the volunteerism. Today, Inouye has mentored and become like a family to several young men and currently also serves as Board president.
As a Friends for Youth mentor, or “Senior Friend,” Inouye spent three hours a week or more with his “Junior Friend.” Friends for Youth mentors encourage kids in their schoolwork, take them for fun outings or just hang out talking friend-to-friend. Inouye feels his volunteer work has always been time well spent. “It’s very fulfilling and gives you a strong sense of self-worth—and you’re doing something good,” he says. “I often think about where I’d be if I had mentor.”
It’s the dedication of employee volunteers like Inouye that led to Oracle being honored by the Redwood City Sequoia Awards as "Business of the Year” for 2007. To promote volunteerism, the Sequoia Awards recognize outstanding volunteer contribution by students, individuals and businesses.
“What we’re really looking for is a corporate culture that promotes volunteerism and encourages employees to make being involved in their community a priority,” says Jeff Ira, chairman of the Sequoia Awards. “Oracle employees have been really active in volunteering for all different organizations in the community.”
Since 1999, Oracle has also been a notable contributor to Sequoia Awards student scholarship program for teens interested in pursuing math, science, or technology. Two years ago, Oracle helped found the organization’s endowment fund by making a $100,000 grant.
Rosalie Gann, Oracle director of giving and volunteerism, says she is particularly proud that employees contribute so much to the local community. “This is in our own backyard. It goes back to our philosophy of wanting to give back to the community and be an integral part of it.”
Inouye, for one, says that Oracle’s employees gravitate toward volunteerism because it’s encouraged. “Oracle hosts a mentoring conference every year, it promotes volunteer activities, we get emails with opportunities and we have a global volunteer day,” he says. “Oracle is a big global company, but it does a good job in the local corporate citizen realm, too.”
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