Chairman's Newsletter Special Edition: Faith Over Fear
Hello, WWT Family and Friends!
I pray this message finds each of you and your families having enjoyed a blessed Easter and Passover, and staying safe and healthy.
I want to join Jim Kavanaugh and the entire executive team in acknowledging every WWT employee continuing to report for work to ensure our customers receive the support and equipment necessary to keep their essential businesses operating. Thank you for your steadfast dedication and support — whether working remotely or on site, you and your families have my deepest gratitude.
As mentioned in the recent corporate updates, our employees' commitment to serving others has yielded truly inspiring outcomes. Please click here to learn more about the impact WWT is having in serving our customers during this pandemic.
In the last newsletter, I mentioned WWT has been collaborating with Kingdom Capital and Washington University to assist the United States government in developing treatments and preventive therapies for COVID-19 through the use of PercayAI. Through the dedicated work of WWT team members, the development of PercayAI's commercial platform has been accelerated dramatically, enabling this extraordinary program to begin analyzing data to provide proposed remedies for this virus.
As inspiring as the positive customer impact are the countless stories of WWT employees serving those in need. The UK team, through WWT's Culture Champion program, has established a set of resources that serve the community, each other and their families; the WWT blood drive filled up quickly (although the American Red Cross remains in critical need of donors); and WWT will be launching a matching donation program to assist in providing COVID-19 relief to those in need. Please watch your e-mail for further details from Ann Marr. We are never more like Christ than when we shoulder each other's burdens!
There are other heroes amidst this crisis. The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis has served over 2,000 families by providing them with food and other necessities. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please check out a collection of resources here or find additional resources on the Chairman's Newsletter landing page.
As Jim mentioned during his recent corporate update, it is important that we care for ourselves and others not only physically and mentally, but spiritually as well. Our health insurance helps us care for our physical bodies, EAP helps us maintain good mental health and I pray these messages will nourish your soul.
Prayer is powerful! Our first company-wide prayer call was an amazing time of fellowship with over 1,000 participants joining. Praise God! If you did not have the opportunity to join, a recording is available. You may also want to visit Rick Pina's blog for more encouraging messages, and please make plans to join us for future calls. Of course, these calls are optional based on your schedule and personal faith. If you would prefer to host a separate call based on your individual faith, you are welcome to do so.
We know that "the righteous shall live by faith." Faith is an action word and appears in the Bible 458 times (NIV), but faith without works is dead. Hebrews 11:1 tells us: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." World Wide Technology is faith realized!
Together, we have worked diligently and faced trying times — extreme financial difficulties in 1993, the horrible tragedy of Sept. 11 and the economic recession of 2008, just to name a few. Faith is what carried us through each difficult period. Make no mistake, faith is what will carry us through this current storm. We will emerge victorious and stronger than ever for the battle has already been won! I encourage you to read the devotion for our upcoming WWT board meeting — Defeating The Invisible Enemy: Overcoming Fear with Faith.
As we face uncertainty during these challenging days, we can sometimes allow fear to take a foothold in our lives. Psalm 34:4 assures us, "I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. You may also find comfort in Psalm 27:1, Psalm 56:3, Isaiah 41:10 and 1 Peter 5:6-7.
I have heard from so many of you over the last few weeks. Your messages of thanks, faith and encouragement have lifted my spirit and brought me great joy. Romans 12:10 tells us to "love one another with brotherly affection." Thank you for sharing your love with me, my family and WWT.
In closing, please be assured that all of you and your precious families remain in my prayers. I want to reiterate that the safety of our employees and your families is our No. 1 priority, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to assure you have a safe working environment.
Please continue to stay safe and stand firm in your faith!
God bless,
Dave