Intel: supporting the grass roots
November 27, 2011That is why Intel Ireland is leading the way in motivating its employees, to engage in outreach and volunteerism to make our communities a better place to live, work, and play. Its objective is to support employees' giving their time and talent to qualified non profits and non-governmental organizations, in addition to schools.
The Intel Involved Matching Grant Program aims to recognize and motivate Intel employees was established to do just this and one member of staff, Quality & Reliability Manager Eamonn McGovern spoke to the Royal County Yearbook about how this initiative has benefited his local club, Kilbride.
On the company website it states "We also wanted to recognize our employees who give generously of their time beyond school-related activities, and give them the opportunity to earn money for organizations that are meaningful to them."
After a minimum of 20 hours has been accrued by Intel employees volunteering at a school or qualified non profit organization, a donation or "match" will be triggered from the Intel Foundation. $16,000 maximum per eligible organization per year.
Activities are eligible when employees' gifts of time, labor, and expertise are given to the non profit organization without compensation for their time or efforts. Eligible activities must provide the majority of the benefit to members of the community beyond other Intel employees or their families.
"Basically, the participant cannot receive any monetary benefit in exchange for his/her volunteer services or reimbursement cannot be provided to the participant in exchange for such volunteer service," said Eamonn.
"I have been involved in the Kilbride club for the past number of years and for the last few of those, I have used the Intel Involved Matching Grant Programme to raise in the region of €10,000 for the club, which they have benefited greatly from."
The former Meath and Athboy hurler has three sons playing with the Kilbride club, Callum (15), Jake (12) and Zack (8) and he revealed that the club has placed a huge emphasis on their underage structure in recent years.
"Like so many clubs around, the underage structure was neglected somewhat here, but that has all changed in the last few years and we are now fielding from under-8s right up to under-16s. There has been a lot of work done coaching the youngsters and the club is fortunate to have a good few hard working people to look after each team."
Eamonn admitted that the club's adult team has been decimated by emigration, but he feels that they can go somewhere close to regaining past glories if the work is continued at underage level.
"Over the last few years, up to eight players have emigrated, which is a massive loss for a small club like ours. I think the club has only realised that the way forward is promoting the underage. We would have small enough numbers in each grade and compete mostly in 13-a-side competitions, but at least we are competing and that is the main thing. We went around each house in the parish and through that we have seen the numbers rise, it has also got more parents involved which is great.
"Other sports are always a problem as soccer is more popular, but we feel that if we can keep the kids interested then we have a good chance of bringing them all the way through to adult level. One way of doing this is that the kids train all year round on the pitch and this keeps the interest alive during the winter months. There is a lot of commitment involved, but the kids enjoy it."
Eamonn's eldest Callum has made the Meath under-15 development squad along with team mate Jack Donnelly, which is not only an honour for the players, but for the club as well and is proof that their hard work is paying off.
Eamonn himself was an outstanding hurler for both club and county. He was part of a very strong Athboy side that failed in their bid to lift the Jubilee Cup and it is a regret that still carries to this day.
"Looking back, we had some outstanding hurlers and really we should have won the championship. We lost two finals to O'Mahony's and Trim and the second one was the most disappointing. I think we were under a lot of pressure to win a championship as it had been so long since the club did so. But, I do feel if that side stayed together then we would have won one and if we won one, we were certainly capable of winning a few."
Eamonn has fond memories of his time with the county and has a NHL division three medal to show for his time in the Royals jersey, which lead to him lining out against some of the top teams in the country.
"We won the division 3 title in the league and went up to division two where we played against the likes of Cork and Offaly, and it was great to get the chance to play against such quality teams at the time. We also got to the All-Ireland B hurling final,which was played in Croke Park, but lost, which was a pity," he concluded.
Intel's expansion in Ireland continues with the latest project, FAB24, which will house a 12,000 sq.m. class 1 cleanroom to fabricate the latest generation P1262 Intel Chip on 300mm wafers. The €206m project builds on a long lasting business relationship between Intel and Mercury, with the engineering contractor assigned the construction of FAB24.
Mercury is a privately-owned company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1972 and has opened offices in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The company is recognised throughout these markets as a leader in engineering solutions. Mercury employ the best people, invest heavily in their training and education and ensure that the highest standards of health, safety and governance is applied throughout the organisation.
Mercury revenues now exceed €450 million annually and are evidence of the outstanding results on scores of large-scale projects they have completed over three decades. The success of their broad-based expertise is widely recognised and echoed in client feedback such as - "outstanding professionalism"…"quality and conscientiousness of your workforce"…"consistent high standard of work"... "attention to detail and ensuring everything is just right"
"Throughout our dealings with Mercury we have found them to have the necessary resources and commitment to undertake complex projects in a safe and efficient manner," is just some of the praise Intel have heaped on Mercury. Tweet
