This blog was guest-written by Kelly Petrich, Community Relations Manager at Cisco

Service to our communities is part of who we are at Cisco. This core value was clearly demonstrated during our first ever Global Service Week in September. The campaign was an incredible success with nearly 5,000 employees volunteering 20,000 hours in more than 85 Cisco locations worldwide.

Employees volunteered in more than 200 activities during the campaign. Just a few examples included mapping buildings online for disaster relief in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, playing board games with students in Krakow, Poland, planting saplings in Bangalore, India, supporting children with disabilities in Tampa, Florida and mentoring students in San Jose, California.

"Global Service Week gave us an opportunity to pause, connect with one another, and understand the larger social issues in our communities," shared Karen Walker, Cisco SVP, and Chief Marketing Officer. "And the better we understand and serve our communities, the stronger we'll be as a company."

More important than the benefits we gained was our collective impact, including providing over$180,000 in volunteer matching dollars and 140,000 meals around the world. Check out the infographic below to see a few of these tallied figures:

"I am proud of what we accomplished in our first ever Global Service Week and what it says about us as a company," said Joe Cozzolino, SVP of Cisco Services. "From volunteering through Time2Give and generous donations through our annual giving campaign, Be the Bridge, we truly are a global collection of people who serve and care for communities."

Thanks to the 90+ charities that partnered with us and the 5,000 employees who served during Global Service Week. Cisco looks forward to growing our service and social impact next year!

Follow Cisco CSR on Twitter  to see how're we're bringing passionate people, innovative ideas, and transformative technology together to accelerate global problem solving.