It’s that time of year again, during which organizations and individuals display support for various noteworthy causes.  Holiday acts of kindness can take many forms, as diverse as bell-ringing, card-sending and song-writing. Given that today marks the first day of Hannukah, we thought it would be a perfect time to share a few examples of mitzvahs we have observed within the language industry throughout the year:

• ABBYY gave 200 copies of its Lingvo software product to the Chernobyl Children Project, USA, which provides medical treatment and respite care for children from the Chernobyl-affected areas of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Many individual translators and agencies such as Crimson Translations of Boston support this project by offering their translation services at no charge.
• Acclaro sponsored an environmental project in October for a river cleanup organization called Riverkeeper that looks after issues with the Hudson River valley watershed.
• chinaONEcall donated free over-the-phone interpreting services earlier this year for individuals affected by the Chinese earthquakes, a service that enabled individuals to find out if their loved ones had been injured or had survived unscathed.
• Global Language Solutions provided Spanish translation services at no cost to Whole Child International, an organization that works to improve the quality of life of orphans in Central America.
• Jonckers decided to send out holiday eCards in place of physical cards, in order to give the money saved to charity. The company is donating this year’s proceeds to LabyrintBrno, a charity that supports disabled children.
• Language Line Services gives back on an ongoing basis by offering a percentage of dual handset phone sales to the American Breast Cancer Foundation, the AIDS Education Global Information System, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
• Lexcelera (née Eurotexte) started Traducteurs sans frontières in 1993. The group is working with the Center for Next Generation Localisation to create automated project management and crowdsourcing with translation memory and MT tools for humanitarian aid projects.
• Lionbridge organized a coordinated food bank drive in its U.S. offices, with site coordinators working directly with their local food banks. The company is backing the efforts with additional funds for offices gaining >90-percent participation. This grassroots-style initiative sought to encourage people to think about how they can support their local communities.
• McElroy has a Philanthropy Coordinator who has taken a “cause of the month” approach to the company’s corporate citizenship. Ronald McDonald House, Caritas, and the Austin Children’s Shelter are just a few of McElroy’s and its employees’ causes.
• Pacific Interpreters allowed employees to take paid time off in order to volunteer for the American Red Cross in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.
• text & form supports the work of SOS Kinderdorf, an organization that helps underprivileged children around the world and in Berlin, with donations of translation services, cash, and internships.
• Transperfect donated its translation services to Habitat for Humanity, in order to help communities worldwide obtain access to affordable housing.

This list is just a sampling of the many acts of kindness that abound within the translation industry, and it reflects only those efforts we’ve learned about on the supplier side. If your organization gives back, pays it forward, or otherwise participates in charitable activities — during the holiday season or throughout the year — be sure to tell us about it. Regardless of language, locale, creed, culture, or geography, helping those in need is something that, in our view, is always worth celebrating.