Oracle Open World Conference

In our modern, tech-saturated lives, many old-fashioned pleasures get overlooked. One is the simple pleasure of receiving a hand-written letter with your name on it. Another is the feeling of starting a new school year ready, with brand new school supplies. Many of today's kids do not get to experience these simple joys with the ease that many of us did as children. Playworks set out to change this.For two weeks prior to the event, Playworks Coaches worked with their Junior Coaches to write letters on the subject of what leadership meant to them. Some wrote about superheroes, their families, being junior coaches, and on a few singular occasions, addressed their letters to President Obama. Enough backpacks and school supplies were purchased to make sure that 500 students would be properly prepared for the school year. Then, On October 5th, 2011, under the bright lights of the Mascone Center, Oracle Conference participants were given the opportunity to share this joy, in what one called a wonderful Philanthropic event. Organized by Salesforce.com Foundation. Oracle Conference attendees stuffed the school supplies into waiting backpacks and wrote reply letters to the children, explaining their own views on leadership. Some wrote about respect and others praised the children for their maturity. A few stepped away from the event, only to bring their friends back to the Playworks booth so that they could join in the letter writing. Some didn't stop at one letter, responding to several children.Over 800 adults and children were touched by a few hours of community service that, for one day, connected adults from around the world to elementary school students from San Francisco.