Samsung Day of Service: A Reflection of What It Means to Give Back

“It’s not how much we give,” Mother Teresa once said, “but how much love we put into giving.”

You could travel to the ends of the earth and might never find a statement that more accurately represents the spirit of selflessness. This same sense of giving is embedded deep within the corporate roots of Samsung … Never more evident than on our semi-annual Day of Service.

Samsung employees team up with Special Olympics athletes for a fun tournament of bocce ball during the company’s fourth semiannual Day of Service on Friday, May 13. Since the first Samsung Day of Service in October 2014, employees have donated more than 61,000 hours of service to 65 organizations nationwide.

On May 13, 4,000 Samsung employees shed their corporate attire and ventured out into the communities where we live and work to lend a helping hand to more than 50 organizations whose mission is to help those in need.

With all of our offices across the country closed for the day, employees like Haneen Alfawair with the HR Operating Team, who spent the day working with kids in the Junior Achievement program at Samsung’s New Jersey headquarters, learned about new opportunities to help others and focus on using the company’s resources to uplift the communities around them.

“The best thing about the Samsung Gives program is that it introduces me to causes I wasn’t even aware of,” Haneen explained. “Last October when we did Day of Service, we worked with City Green which was literally a block away from my house—and I didn’t even know it existed.”

A Samsung employee shares a moment with children at the Taft Early Childhood Center in East Harlem, in support of the Children’s Aid Society and its mission to help children in poverty succeed and thrive, during the company’s fourth semiannual Day of Service on Friday, May 13.

Employees like Marcus Minifee, who works within Samsung’s OmniChannel Marketing Division, see Samsung’s efforts on Day of Service as a great way for employees to get involved in the communities where we provide our products and services. The day also serves as a chance for employees to share the company’s ideals with residents of those areas. Throughout his upbringing on the South Side of Chicago—an environment he describes as “challenging”—the importance of helping others was instilled in Marcus from an early age.

“Being able to give back to the community is very much a part of my DNA, and very much a part of what Samsung is doing,” said Marcus. “Corporate citizenship is extremely important, not just for our country, but for everywhere. The fact that Samsung allows employees to take time off from their day-to-day jobs to actually help support communities and organizations is refreshing, exciting … And I’m glad to be a part of it. ”

This is the impact Samsung hopes to continue having on its employees. Creating connections between them and our local communities, while building excitement about contributing to the betterment of these areas is what makes Day of Service so unique. Since starting the program in 2014, we have donated more than 61,000 hours of service to 65 organizations around the U.S. And each iteration of the event brings more enthusiasm about supporting our partner organizations.

“At the end of the day, if you’re a customer-driven organization, your customer is not just who buys your products … It’s who are the beneficiaries of what you offer to the community,” said Sandya Magge, director of digital service in the customer service division. “To me, that’s what’s really exciting about Samsung’s mission to give back to the community.”