Jon High, president of CustomGuide, recently went on a mission vacation with his family to El Salvador. Such vacations are in vogue now, where you visit an exotic location and do good works while you’re there; a holistic rejuvenation of the body and spirit.

But for Jon and his family, it was more than a family vacation. It was a chance to continue the relationship CustomGuide started two years ago with AMILAT (Asociación Amigos para Latinoamerica), a non-profit organization that operates an orphanage and school in El Salvador.

 

In late 2009, CustomGuide’s founders, brothers Dan and Jon High, were doing their end of the year bookkeeping when they realized that they had a decent profit. Having grown up in a household where giving and helping others was valued and practiced, they decided to donate a significant portion of their profits–$30,000– to someone in need.

They didn’t have to think long before they knew where they wanted to send it. Their mother, Carol High, was a frequent volunteer at AMILAT, which ran a school and orphanage in El Salvador. Having heard her stories about the school and orphanage, they felt their donation would have a positive impact on the students and orphans living there.

“We didn’t really know what would happen with our donation, we just figured it would go for whatever was most needed,”  Dan High said. When they were told that the funds went to creating a computer lab, they were pleased.

“Computers and technology are a way for these kids to have more opportunities and a better future,” Jon High said. As for the naming of the lab? “We didn’t expect to be recognized like that, but it’s very flattering,” he said.

The the most valuable lesson is the one taught by the students in their gratitude and appreciation for the opportunity to use these new tools. You can see it in PowerPoint presentation the children made with the help of their instructor. Hard not to love the eager smiles and bright shining eyes from these kids.

CustomGuide has donated $30,000 to the non-profit AMILAT (Asociación Amigas para Latinoamerica), in El Salvador. The organization used the funds to install a computer lab in its school, which serves 250 students from the AMILAT orphanage, as well as other orphanages in the city.

CustomGuide’s founders, Jon and Dan High, decided to give the donation because they felt their gift could make an immediate impact. This early exposure to computers is giving the students a better future with new opportunities, according to President Jon High.

“We saw this as a great opportunity to make a difference, and it’s been more rewarding than we ever imagined,” High said.

CustomGuide has a connection to the organization that goes back several years. The extended family of CustomGuide’s founders has long volunteered at the orphanage, and High has also volunteered there with his family.

CustomGuide has a history of charity work, having provided free online training to qualified non-profits in the past. High said that the company hopes to continue its charity efforts in the future.

About CustomGuide
CustomGuide provides Interactive Online Learning, Skills Assessments, and Customizable Courseware for Microsoft Office, Windows, Mac, iOS, and many more software applications. CustomGuide’s courses are available as a hosted SaaS solution or through SCORM for use on your external LMS.

Mac OS X Lion online learning and courseware is now available from CustomGuide. For a look at the table of contents and a preview of lessons, view our Mac OS X Lion title page.

Lion, the seventh version of Mac OS X, was released last July and has arguably become Apple’s most successful operating system.  By November of 2011, some sources estimated that roughly 30 percent of all Mac users were already using Lion.

Lion introduces several new features to Mac OS X, such as:

• Launchpad: Launchpad lets you access and manage all of your Mac’s applications, as you would on an iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone.  Simply click the Launchpad icon on the Dock to access Launchpad.
• Mission Control: Mission Control is the new hub of your Mac, which combines earlier versions of Mac OS X’s Dashboard, Exposé, and Spaces features. With just a single click or swipe on the trackpad, you can conveniently view everything on your Desktop.
• Full-Screen Applications: You can now view your applications in full-screen view, so that they take up the entire screen.

We also bid farewell to our existing web based training format with this new release. We feel that we saved the best for last in releasing Mac OS X Lion as the final title of our existing web based training format, as the title delivers the most interactive and detailed web based training ever produced for Mac OS X. Thanks to  all of our clients who have helped make our online training such a success.

As a salute to the web based training we’ve produced over the past decade, we’ve included a special Easter egg in the lesson, “What’s New in Mac OS X Lion.” Need a hint? Explore the end of the lesson to reveal the Easter egg.

Project 2010 courseware is now available for download from CustomGuide. For a look at the table of contents, and a preview of some courseware lessons, view our Project 2010 title page.

Waiting for online learning? Work on Project 2010 online learning is currently in progress; look for the complete online learning course this spring.