WESTFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC. (NASDAQ: NTCT), a leading provider of business assurance, a powerful combination of service assurance, cybersecurity, and business intelligence solutions, today announced its Heart of Giving community program awarded its third grant through the Greater Lowell Community Foundation Center for Business Philanthropy. The annual grant program builds relationships with nonprofit organizations and engages employees in learning about service opportunities in the communities of Greater Lowell and Burlington, Massachusetts. This grant was awarded to Catie’s Closet based in Dracut, MA, which provides clothing and toiletries to children in need through “closets” located in 37 schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
“The mission of Greater Lowell Community Foundation is to connect philanthropic businesses and individuals to the needs of their communities, and it’s a pleasure working with NETSCOUT to bring philanthropy into the workplace with this innovative grant process,” said Jay Linnehan, executive director, Greater Lowell Community Foundation. “Giving back to the community in which it operates amplifies a company’s greater purpose and NETSCOUT demonstrates a tangible commitment to supporting important local causes.”
“With corporate philanthropy at the heart of the culture at NETSCOUT, we strive to grow our local community presence, leverage our technology resources and encourage our talented employees to actively serve our communities through our Heart of Giving program,” said Michael Szabados, chief operating officer at NETSCOUT. “Our employees selected Catie’s Closet as this year’s grant recipient to further their mission to boost students’ self-esteem and motivate them to attend school and focus on their education. We look forward to participating in various service opportunities over the coming year.”
Catie’s Closet executive director Mickey Cockrell said, “Positive change happens in our communities when communities are invested in the change. NETSCOUT is renowned for their outreach and we are so thrilled to be the recipient of this year’s Heart of Giving grant award. Thousands of children will see a new closet in their school this year and the best part is that it supports all future students in need, year after year.”
The Grant Process
From reading a grant proposal to learning about the organizations in the community and filtering through the worthy applications in order to select the finalists, and participating in onsite work sessions with the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, employees have the opportunity to learn how nonprofits are addressing important issues in the community. From 25 grant submissions, three finalists were selected and invited to NETSCOUT corporate headquarters to share how their organizations would best serve the community, how they would use the grant funds, and their ideas for employee community service projects. The presentations were live-streamed to employees in NETSCOUT’s local offices in Westford and Burlington. The grant of $10,000 was awarded by NETSCOUT employees to Catie’s Closet, which will put those funds to good use opening a new school closet and partnering with NETSCOUT employees on other service projects.
The NETSCOUT Heart of Giving corporate philanthropy program includes disaster relief, community service projects, non-profit board service, employee matching gifts and corporate charitable contributions.
About the Greater Lowell Community Foundation
The Greater Lowell Community Foundation is a philanthropic organization comprised of over 350 funds, currently totaling over $32 million, which is dedicated to improving the quality of life in 20 neighboring cities and towns.
The Community Foundation annually awards grants and scholarships to hundreds of worthy nonprofits and students, and is powered by the winning combination of donor-directed giving, personal attention from its staff, and an in-depth understanding of local needs. The generosity of our donors has enabled the Community Foundation to award more than $11 million to the Greater Lowell Community since 1999.
About Catie’s Closet
Catie’s Closet converts an unused room within a school into a safe space where a student living in poverty can choose, free of charge, the clothing and basic necessities that help them walk confidently back into their classroom. The organization is dedicated to improving school attendance and graduation rates by removing barriers that prevent students from coming to school.
The organization currently supports 26,000 students with 37 closets in Massachusetts and New Hampshire with a distribution center in Dracut, Massachusetts.
About NETSCOUT
NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC. (NASDAQ: NTCT) is a leading provider of business assurance – a powerful combination of service assurance, cybersecurity, and business intelligence solutions – for today’s most demanding service provider, enterprise and government networks. NETSCOUT’s Adaptive Service Intelligence (ASI) technology continuously monitors the service delivery environment to identify performance issues and provides insight into network-based security threats, helping teams to quickly resolve issues that can cause business disruptions or impact user experience. NETSCOUT delivers unmatched service visibility and protects the digital infrastructure that supports our connected world. To learn more, visit www.netscout.com or follow @NETSCOUT on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
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