UBM Channel's Channel@Work Project Donates Goods Valued at More Than $50k to Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., March 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM Channel today announced a successful Channel@Work project at the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House, which provides low cost, often free, temporary housing for up to 75 families of seriously ill children. The charitable project was executed in conjunction with UBM Channel's annual XChange Solution Provider event. The goal of the Xtreme Home Makeover project was to provide the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House not only a refreshed space, but also install new appliances, update technology needs and stock shelves with fresh goods to ensure the house can continue to be as effective as possible.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120326/NY76507 )

Thanks to the help of more than 70 volunteers, including vendors, solution providers, and UBM Channel staff, the facility received a much needed facelift – from fresh coats of paint to pristinely cleaned kitchen cabinets. The project was made possible by the underwriter support of Microsoft, which provided supplies as well as a variety of much needed appliance replacements including stoves, dishwashers, and washer dryer units. Through the generosity of wish list donors, the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House also received TVs, computers, games and dishes among other improvements. Contributing more than $50,000 worth of goods, the XChange Solution Provider Channel@Work technology and more wish list donors include: APC, Dell, Eaton, Fortinet, Intronis, Ipswitch File Transfer, Ipswitch What's Up Gold, McAfee, Microsoft, Reflexions, Samsung, ServiceKey, and Symantec.

Quick links:
+Watch Channel@Work volunteers hard at work in our project video
+View Channel@Work pictures on our XChange Events Facebook Page
+To learn more about Channel@Work, please visit: www.xchange-events.com/xsp12/channelatwork.

"It's our mission to help make families lives a little less stressful, knowing the challenges they face every day, fighting for their children," said Jeffrey Janis, Director of Development, Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House. "The Channel@Work volunteers have exceeded all our expectations for making our home-away-from-home more comfortable for those families. We greatly appreciate the dedication and hard work of the volunteers and the generous donations graciously given to our facility by Microsoft and others. We know this project will leave a lasting impression and we are truly grateful to the channel community for their efforts."

"As program underwriter and active participants in Channel@Work for the past three years, our Microsoft team has had the pleasure of seeing firsthand how the channel community continues to impress, coming together without fail, to give back and make a difference," said Eric Martorano, sr. director of SMB channels for Microsoft. "We were honored to help the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House in their mission to comfort families in their time of need and value our role in ongoing efforts to support local communities through the Channel@Work program."

In addition to the volunteer day of service, the entire XChange Solution Provider audience was invited to support this Channel@Work initiative. Soda can tabs were collected throughout the event for the Ronald McDonald House tab recycling program. The project video made its debut at the XChange XCellence and Channel Champs award reception, where guests were given an opportunity to make a contribution to the organization; nearly $1200 was collected.

"Being part of the hands-on project and being let into the community and the lives of the families at the Ronald McDonald House was incredibly humbling and rewarding," said Lisa Mackenzie, SVP of Events for UBM Channel. "Our Channel@Work partnership with Microsoft has given us this platform to make a lasting impact on the lives of families at the house who come from all 50 states and several countries, as they make this stop in Los Angeles to help their children. I could not think of a better way to kick off our XChange event."

The 2012 XChange Solution Provider event, "Redefining the Solution Provider Model & Value," took place March 4th-6th in Los Angeles, CA. The annual event brings together more than 225 pre-qualified solution providers with leading and emerging vendors to discuss the future of the channel and identify strategies for success. To learn more about this annual event, please visit: http://www.xchange-events.com/xsp12.

About UBM Channel

UBM Channel is the premier provider of IT channel-focused events, media, research, consulting, and sales and marketing services. With more than 30 years of experience and engagement, UBM Channel has the unmatched channel expertise to execute integrated solutions for technology executives, managing partner recruitment, enablement and go-to-market strategy in order to accelerate technology sales. UBM Channel is a UBM company. To learn more about UBM Channel, visit us at http://www.ubmchannel.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ubmchannel.

UBM plc (www.ubm.com)

UBM plc is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world's buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print and provide them with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities, from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewellery traders, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 6,000 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

Press Contact:
Betzi-Lynn Hanc, Marketing Manager
UBM Channel
508.416.1182
betzi.hanc@ubm.com

SOURCE: UBM Channel