Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.
- Anthony Robbins

Every year at SAS Global Forum, SAS professionals from all over the globe gather, reconnect and learn from each other. And wherever they gather, SAS Global Forum attendees demonstrate their appreciation for the opportunity to become more by giving back to the host community.

December is the season of giving. In that spirit, let's take a look at how SAS Global Forum 2015 will be giving back to the community of Dallas.

SAS Global Forum Book Drive

The SAS Global Forum Book Drive started 14 years ago at the Long Beach SUGI Conference to assist in the opportunities for literacy for children in local charities and shelters. This program has become an annual tradition organized by volunteers from the SAS Global Users Group.

At SAS Global Forum 2014, the book drive changed its focus to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) books, and last year, attendees raised more than $4000 and provided a package of STEM books for 25 elementary schools in nearby Maryland. These STEM books have become an integral part of the STEM curriculum for those schools.

Why the focus on STEM?

STEM is a K-12 education program designed to improve the teaching of these subject areas by incorporating technology and engineering into the regular curriculum. Mastering STEM subjects in elementary school gives students the basic technological, scientific and mathematical literacy they will need to succeed in school and in today’s changing world.

Learning to read is a key aspect of this mastery at the elementary school age. So, this year, the SAS Global Forum Book Drive will continue to focus on STEM-related materials.

How can you donate to the STEM Book Drive?

You can participate in this year’s STEM Book Drive in several ways:

• Donate books and other STEM-related materials. You can request a list of suggested materials.
• Donate money. Volunteers will collect donations throughout the conference and use the money to purchase materials.
• Build a wagon. Please join us on Monday evening, April 27, for the second annual Red Wagon Charity Event. Help us build red wagons and start filling them with the STEM books, toys and other STEM materials that are collected during the conference. The finished wagons will be donated to Trinity River Mission in Dallas.

Please reach out if you have questions or want to help! We hope to see you in Dallas for SAS Global Forum 2015.