High-Tech Company Has Hands On Solution For New Orleans School
Prolifics Employees Help Rebuild School And Donate Supplies During Conference
New York, NY. – January 29, 2007 – Prolifics, an IBM WebSphere Services Provider and premier level IBM business partner, announced today that 175 employees from its staff, who are in New Orleans for a company meeting, helped students and teachers at Lafayette Academy upgrade the school’s library, as well as paint murals and other areas in need of sprucing up via the NY-based charity the Pajama Program. Prolifics employees worked along side over 120 students, teachers and Pajama Program volunteers.
“We have a full day of activities for our many volunteers, students and teachers. Through the help of our community partners like the Pajama Program, as well as outside partners such as Prolifics, our school makes great strides everyday. I cannot thank Prolifics and the Pajama Program enough,” says Ed Drozdowski, Lafayette Academy CAO.
Overall the company made a donation totaling over $35K. Prolifics’ itself donated $10K which was matched by its business partner, IBM. Additionally, Prolifics organized a fundraiser which raised over $10K for “Books on the Bayou” from its employees.
In addition to library funding and volunteer efforts by Prolifics, all students at Lafayette Academy will receive a new pair of pajamas (and books for the library) courtesy of the Pajama Program, whose mission is to provide new, warm pajamas and books to needy children nationwide. Prolifics also donated 12 laptops to the school to be used by the students in the classroom.
“Our ‘Books on the Bayou’ program is an opportunity for Prolifics to unite with the community of New Orleans and present a personal and permanent gift to the children,” said New Orleans Chapter Pajama Program President Mindy Caplan before the event. “With Prolifics’ help, the Pajama Program is delighted to work with Lafayette Academy, its students and teachers to build a library we can all be proud of.”
“Prolifics chose New Orleans for its annual consulting conference because of our desire to give back to a community that continues to recover from Hurricane Katrina,” says Nicolas Jabbour, Prolifics CEO. “In fact, we decided against our normal team building event so that we could do something more important which would truly make a difference. I’m not only proud of our staff who will be in New Orleans this week working at the school, but also of the entire company who generously donated to raise funds for this project.”
Pajama Program Founder and Executive Director Genevieve Piturro added, ''I am thrilled to partner with Prolifics on a project to help the children of New Orleans. Since we first delivered 11,000 pairs of pajamas to them right after Hurricane Katrina we started a chapter in New Orleans to be able to contribute regularly so this trip with Prolifics is very special for us.''
About Prolifics
Prolifics provides WebSphere, Portal, SOA, Security and Business Integration solutions to Fortune 2000 companies around the globe. Since 1978, Prolifics has leveraged best practices, proven methodologies, and real-world expertise to help organizations reach new markets, achieve increased customer satisfaction and ease collaboration within their enterprise. Recognized for its excellence, Prolifics has gained an industry-high 96% success rate for deploying robust systems on-time and on-budget (independent survey by leading analyst firm). To learn more about Prolifics, visit www.prolifics.com or call 800.675.5419.
Lafayette Academy
Lafayette Academy is a K-7 charter school located at 2727 S. Carrollton Ave in New Orleans, Louisiana. The school’s rigorous curriculum follows Mosaica Education’s Paragon Model, which addresses students’ multiple intelligences and learning styles through an engaging and hands-on approach to college-prep education. Lafayette Academy is governed by the Choice Foundation Board of Directors.
About Pajama Program
Pajama Program, founded in 2001, is a 501 (c) (3) national children’s charity. The Pajama Program's mission is to provide new, warm pajamas and books to needy children nationwide. The Program has 24 chapters nationwide including a chapter in New Orleans under the leadership of Chapter President Mindy Caplan who lives in New Orleans. The Program also operates three Pajama Program Reading Centers: New York, NY; Yonkers, NY; and Red Bank, NJ.
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