~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Executives Without Borders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello Everyone,I wanted to bring you up to date on our projects in Rio de Janeiro. Katayoun Shahrokhi, Executives Without Borders Program Directorin Brazil, is doing a great job directing the projects and captured powerful feedback from our corporate volunteers on the ground: Rodrigo Marques from HP commented, "the volunteer projects really make me feel more useful, and that I'm fulfilling exactly what I'm supposed to do -serving others and the community - and this has made a huge difference in my life in every aspect."Tatiana Fernandez, a volunteer from Dow Chemical, said that her company's support makes all the difference, saying "I feel more accomplished and more proud to work for a company and for a leader that allows me to have this opportunity." She also expressed the importance of our role and facilitation of the projects, commenting "Executives without Borders is the great catalyst of this experience" and "I feel honored to work with them." Katayoun Shahrokhi, center, with volunteers from Dow Chemical and Amadeus Through service to communities, our corporate partners experience benefits helpful to their core business. Marina Salgado from Amadeus reflected, "today companies are very concerned about how they should be perceived in the market and also by their internal resources. These volunteer activities reflect our company's desire to cooperate and create change with social conditions all around us." One of the keys to our work in Brazil is cross-company collaboration that allows employees to share best practices and resources for implementation. As some employees learn new project management skills that they can directly apply to existing client activities, others find new and creative ways to add value. Recently, we worked with several of the Dow employees to repurpose part of the wrap they designed for the London Olympic stadium to turn it into a pavilion that will provide an area of outdoor shade for Bola Pra Frente's facility. Not only is it a great way to drive sustainability for a Dow product, but also a dramatic and engaging way to connect the London and Rio Olympic Games. Our program in Brazil now has 26 corporate volunteers, with 7 based in Rio de Janeiro and 19 based in Sao Paulo. Here are some of the ways we are helping our NGO partners:Bola Pra Frente: uses the activity and language of soccer to educate children, teenagers, young adults and their families to meet social challenges.Results:Volunteers completed an assessment of institutional IT systems and began email and server migration projects as a first step in upgrading their platformsVideos and over 50 pages of institutional marketing materials were translated into English allowing them to expand their audiences and fundraising base The Executive Director, after her volunteer-led English classes, felt confident enough to host a delegation of famous international athletes and business professionals and conduct the entire visit in English CDI: transforms lives and strengthens low-income communities by empowering people with information and communication technology.Results:All staff were migrated into a single email system that improved organizational efficiencies and reliability and created a unified brand identity 40 schools were