Bill Gates Dedicates United Way Learning Center At National Headquarters in Alexandria

Most of the United Way center’s funding came from the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation initially and the name of Bill Gates’ deceased mother will carry on.

The learning center will have all kinds of technology to include high definition video and web conferencing, and this will stand to benefit all as employees and staffers will be able to communicate in the 21st century. Those in need will have a new way of communicating and I am guessing too that other corporate sponsors could also take advantage here with communicating with areas of contributions, etc.

The Melinda and Bill Gates foundation until recently has worked quietly, a lot in the background and it’s nice to begin to see the results of their 10 year efforts now appearing in the news. We like that a lot. If you happened to miss the TED presentation from Melinda Gates, the link below will take you there and she’s got a lot of good ideas and methodologies in use right now too.

Melinda Gates Discusses What We Can Learn From the “Feel Good’ Marketing of Coke and How to Investigate Some of Those Techniques And Ideas to Spread Better Healthcare For All

Also well worth watching is the 60 Minutes report from a couple weeks ago too in which some real scenes and issues they are working on are talked about and seen on video. BD

Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation - The Work Across the World–60 Minutes Takes a Deep Look and Talks With Melinda Gates While Touring Countries Where the Foundation Works

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates has dedicated a new $17 million learning center at United Way Worldwide headquarters that will bear his mother's name.

Gates said at Wednesday's event at United Way headquarters that his mother got him thinking about volunteerism at a young age in conversations over the dinner table.

Most of the center's initial funding came from a $10 million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill's mother, Mary Gates, was a longtime United Way supporter and board member who died in 1994.

The learning center will allow United Way to use high-definition video conference and webcasting technology to train staffers and volunteers at United Way chapters worldwide. Bill Gates Sr. also attended Wednesday's dedication in Alexandria.

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/1700ap_us_people_bill_gates.html