Mission 500 Charity Organization Announces 2013 Award Winners

Mission 500 Charity Organization Announces 2013 Award Winners

Mission 500, a charitable organization engaging security professionals to sponsor needy children through the World Vision organization, announced the winners of its annual Humanitarian and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) awards. These awards are designed to honor companies in the security industry who make important contributions to those in need.

Systems integrator Convergint Technologies is being honored with the 2013 Mission 500 CSR award. Convergint Technologies was built on a solid foundation of values and beliefs. Convergint encourages their colleagues to live these on a daily basis, whether at home, work, or in their communities; and they regularly share their values and beliefs with their clients and business partners. One of these values, the belief in balanced lives, supports their belief that it is important for all of us to balance our time, energy, and commitments across our families, business, and communities.

In support of this value, each year, Convergint colleagues across North America go into their communities and contribute to those people in need. Convergint Social Responsibility Day is officially celebrated on or about June 18th of each year. They have a long history and list of community causes they have contributed to, including over 120 different organizations since 2002. On Convergint day 2012 alone, they donated over $730,000 in their colleagues’ time, material and services.

Colleagues are deeply involved in initiatives, whether company-wide, office specific, or on an individual basis. All offices have a coordinator responsible for selecting a local charity, setting fundraising goals, and hosting events to generate support for their chosen cause. Individual donations are also matched up to $500. This year, a team of 31 U.S. and Canadian Convergint colleagues partnered with Poured-Out, Inc. , spending 5 days in Haiti building a school/church, installing 47 residential water filters and large industrial filters for three orphanages. This now provides 4,110 gallons of clean water per day, supporting the daily water requirements for over 800 Haitians.

This was all made possible through the team's fundraising within Convergint, and from friends and family. The donations funded travel and living expenses for the team, building materials for the school/church, 47 residential water filters, 3 industrial water filters and employment of 22 Haitian constructions workers and 6 translators. In 2012, they raised $110,000 for this project, effectively transforming this Haitian community. Their matching donations program also generated $77,300 in 2012.

Michael Keegan is the recipient of the 2013 Mission 500 Humanitarian award. The purpose of the Mission 500 Humanitarian Award is to honor individuals in the security industry who make important contributions to those in need.

Michael has been involved in the security industry for more than 27 years; currently serving as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for Teton Youth and Family Services (TYFS) in Jackson, Wyoming. For the past three years, he has organized and spearheaded a golf tournament that unites the community and raises more than $35,000 each year for the TYFS programs. The mission of Teton Youth and Family Services is to improve children’s lives by providing services ranging from prevention to residential care that address behavioral, emotional, and/or mental health issues.

TYFS has been serving children and their families since 1977. They have helped hundreds of young people stay out of trouble and hundreds more find their way out.

They operate three entities in Teton County:

  • Van Vleck House: Programs range from offerings that help all children stay out of trouble, to programs for youth involved in the juvenile court system.
  • Hirschfield Center for Children: Helps children avoid behavioral, emotional and mental health problems by strengthening families and working to prevent child abuse and neglect.
  • Red Top Meadows: Provides residential treatment and therapeutic wilderness programs for adolescent males with behavioral, emotional and/or mental health issues.

In addition to his contribution to TYFS, Michael traveled to Favorito, Cuba this past December as part of a small group from his local church, St John’s Episcopal, that met with Cuban community leaders and their local youth group to begin the construction of a new community center/chapel. For numerous years, Michael volunteered as a coach while serving on the Board of Directors of Jackson Hole Youth Baseball.  Additionally, when he owned Watchguard Security Systems, Michael designed a security system for a proposed shelter for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault. After bidding on the job and meeting with the Community Safety Network board, Mike was so moved by their mission that he committed, right then and there, to donate a very elaborate system that retailed in excess of $40,000.

The two awards will be presented on April 11, 2013 at ISC West. The presentation will be at 5:00 pm, at the Security 5K reception in the concourse area adjacent to the Expo Hall entrance of the Sands Convention Center. All are welcome.

Featured

  • Survey: 54% of Organizations Cite Technical Debt as Top Hurdle to Identity System Modernization

    Modernizing identity systems is proving difficult for organizations due to two key challenges: decades of accumulated Identity and Access Management (IAM) technical debt and the complexity of managing access across multiple identity providers (IDPs). These findings come from the new Strata Identity-commissioned report, State of Multi-Cloud Identity: Insights and Trends for 2025. The report, based on survey data from the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), highlights trends and challenges in securing cloud environments. The CSA is the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. Read Now

  • Study: Only 35 Percent of Companies Include Cybersecurity Teams When Implementing AI

    Only 35 percent of cybersecurity professionals or teams are involved in the development of policy governing the use of AI technology in their enterprise, and nearly half (45 percent) report no involvement in the development, onboarding, or implementation of AI solutions, according to the recently released 2024 State of Cybersecurity survey report from ISACA, a global professional association advancing trust in technology. Read Now

  • New Report Series Highlights E-Commerce Threats, Fraud Against Retailers

    Trustwave, a cybersecurity and managed security services provider, recently released a series of reports detailing the threats facing the retail sector, marking the second year of its ongoing research into these critical security issues. Read Now

  • Stay Secure in 2024: Updated Cybersecurity Tips for the Office and at Home

    Cyber criminals get more inventive every year. Cybersecurity threats continue to evolve and are a moving target for business owners in 2024. Companies large and small need to employ cybersecurity best practices throughout their organization. That includes security integrators, manufacturers, and end users. Read Now

Featured Cybersecurity

Webinars

New Products

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises. 3

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions. 3

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.” 3