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With summer storms in the news lately, it’s interesting to see how people in communities are helping each other in times of hardship. Businesses within these communities are also helping in ways individuals may not be able to.
Google.org is one of the businesses. Google grants $100 million each year to those in need, and during that same period, some of their employees volunteer up to 250,000 hours of their time working with nonprofits to help the needy. They also donate a variety of free products and services only their business can.
Since I have family in Florida, I did a Google search for “Hurricane Irma” and clicked on their specialized tracking map. The link was
google.org/crisismap/2017-irma. Google provided the map tracking the hurricane and continued to give updates on other storm information such as traffic updates and evacuation routes. When I viewed the tracking map, I was able to click on layers of information and add or take away features like public alerts, precipitation, clouds, wind speeds, hurricane imagery and more.
Fortunately, my family survived hurricane Irma without injury. However, they lost power, one large tree fell in the yard, some roof damage occurred, a garden fence was damaged, and lots of wind and rain left yards full of downed foliage and some pretty deep pools.
You can visit google.org/crisismap/weather_and_events to see weather and natural events from around the world, like an air quality alert in central Montana and fire alerts in Western Australia. You can click on each event to read more information about it.
Google implements an impact challenge every year, to seek out worthy causes. Here are a few of them. Libraries Without Borders deploys portable libraries around the world to give refugees access to quality educational information. Hack the Hood gives students real-world technology training by connecting them with local small businesses. |
