Kurt's Column
Volunteer Program Reaches a Major Milestone
It is my 
pleasure to announce that LANL employees and retirees have reached a significant milestone by logging more than one million volunteer hours. Congratulations! This information was captured through our online VolunteerMatch resource and our partnership with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. The VolunteerMatch.org website is available for anyone looking for opportunities to serve as volunteers, and nonprofit organizations can use it to register and request volunteers at no cost to them. Volunteer needs range from tutoring, to search and rescue, to support for veterans, and much more. Please feel free to use this valuable resource to locate volunteer opportunities whether or not you're a LANL employee or retiree.
We may have more people to help with volunteer work in Northern New Mexico—the more than 500 employees that recently left the Lab as part of a voluntary separation program are being recruited as volunteers. Within the Lab, losing more than 500 people brings a new set of challenges, but we're finding innovative ways to move forward and “do more with less.” Under Lab Director McMillan’s leadership, I am confident we will be able to meet our goals and even excel.
I can also tell you that we in the Community Programs Office are working diligently to perform our work at the highest level possible. To learn how to “do more with less,” we have embarked on a "quality journey" that has already received Piñon-level Recognition from Quality New Mexico, but that’s just the first step on a long road of continuous improvement.
The Office is also working on a new Los Alamos National Security, LLC Community Commitment Plan proposal to present to our Board of Governors this fall. We’re soliciting input from our major partners to make what has been a great plan even better. We look forward to sharing its details with you once everything is finalized later this year.
We’re also starting our annual scholarship drive to provide promising regional students with the support they need to obtain a higher education that’s so important to career success in today’s environment. You can help through the Los Alamos Employeees' Scholarship Fund.
I hope you enjoy the information in this issue of Connections, which includes some promising new work to create medical radioisotopes, how we’re helping small businesses solve big problems, and students who could become supercomputing superstars.
Sincerely,
