Left to right: George Duane, Karen McCloskey, Andy Sicard, Jay Linnehan executive director at Greater Lowell Community Foundation, Mickey Cockrell executive director at Catie’s Closet, Stephen Swidrak, Joanna Fleming, Mark Gosselin, George Nugent deputy executive director Greater Lowell Community Foundation. (Photo: Business Wire)
NETSCOUT Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NTCT), whose enterprise and service provider portfolio includes products for service assurance, troubleshooting, diagnostics and business analytics, today announced its Heart of Giving community program awarded its third grant through the Greater Lowell Community Foundation Center for Business Philanthropy.
“The mission of Greater Lowell Community Foundation is to connect philanthropic businesses and individuals to the needs of their communities, and it’s a pleasure working with NETSCOUT to bring philanthropy into the workplace with this innovative grant process,” said Jay Linnehan, executive director, Greater Lowell Community Foundation. “Giving back to the community in which it operates amplifies a company’s greater purpose and NETSCOUT demonstrates a tangible commitment to supporting important local causes.”
The NETSCOUT Heart of Giving corporate philanthropy program includes disaster relief, community service projects, non-profit board service, employee matching gifts and corporate charitable contributions. The annual grant program builds relationships with nonprofit organizations and engages employees in learning about service opportunities in the communities of Greater Lowell and Burlington, Massachusetts.
From 25 grant submissions, three finalists were selected and invited to NETSCOUT corporate headquarters to share how their organizations would best serve the community, how they would use the grant funds, and their ideas for employee community service projects. The grant of $10,000 was awarded by NETSCOUT employees to Catie’s Closet, based in Dracut, MA, which provides clothing and toiletries to children in need through “closets” located in 37 schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The presentations were live-streamed to employees in NETSCOUT’s local offices in Westford and Burlington.
“With corporate philanthropy at the heart of the culture at NETSCOUT, we strive to grow our local community presence, leverage our technology resources and encourage our talented employees to actively serve our communities through our Heart of Giving program,” said Michael Szabados, chief operating officer at NETSCOUT. “Our employees selected Catie’s Closet as this year’s grant recipient to further their mission to boost students’ self-esteem and motivate them to attend school and focus on their education. We look forward to participating in various service opportunities over the coming year.”
Catie’s Closet executive director Mickey Cockrell said, “Positive change happens in our communities when communities are invested in the change. NETSCOUT is renowned for their outreach and we are so thrilled to be the recipient of this year’s Heart of Giving grant award. Thousands of children will see a new closet in their school this year and the best part is that it supports all future students in need, year after year.”
Catie’s Closet converts an unused room within a school into a safe space where a student living in poverty can choose, free of charge, the clothing and basic necessities that help them walk confidently back into their classroom. The organization is dedicated to improving school attendance and graduation rates by removing barriers that prevent students from coming to school. The organization currently supports 26,000 students with 37 closets in Massachusetts and New Hampshire with a distribution center in Dracut, Massachusetts.
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