How Can Techies Give Back?

KReilly asks: "As the school year starts back up for me, I have been looking for a volunteer program I could work in. This year I have been considering creating my own non-profit organization, but I still lack a clear picture of what I hope to accomplish. I have read about communities wiring classrooms for the internet in California, and repairing computers donated by businesses for schools. I would like to do this, but find many schools and libraries would deny this donation since its maintenance would be too big of an investment for them and they do not want to experiment with Open Source alternatives that would lower the PC repair cost. So my question to you is how do you, as a tech, give back to society and aid in social programs? And, any information/advice you wanted to share on my original idea would be much appreciated."

Comments

Lots of things

[Dancin_Santa]

Help in a gubernatorial election campaign.

Volunteer at the soup kitchen.

Donate unused stuff to Goodwill.

Offer your time to the old-folks home.

Pick up litter in your neighborhood.

Give money to the Salvation Army.

Offer to read to children in the hospital.

Drop a few dimes into a homeless person's cup.

Buy a couple dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for your coworkers.

Start a community watch program in your neighborhood.

There are so many things you can do that do not necessarily require technology. These things are easier to give and easier to receive because people in need do not always have the means to support technological donations. It's the human touch that is important in charity.

Re:Lots of things

[rmohr02]

There are so many things you can do that do not necessarily require technology. These things are easier to give and easier to receive because people in need do not always have the means to support technological donations. It's the human touch that is important in charity.

This is true, but the submitter does have skills, and would rather utilize those skills than do something anyone can do. This is not dissimilar from lawyers doing pro-bono legal work.

Non-profit organizations

[ceri]

Look for non-profit organizations such as the local Food Bank, the American Heart Association, the Red Cross, or Junior Achievement.

Even if these organizations don't need technical help, volunteer your time and encourage friends/coworkers to join you. It won't (or at least, it shouldn't) kill you to walk away from the computer world for a few hours a week.

huh.

[duck 'o death]

I don't know about where you live, but I know there's a lot of small non-profit/charity orgs in my neighbourhood (Eastern Canada) that already have some sort of net access. But what they *do* need is help in getting the best out of their often old hardware, or just getting it to work at all.

I'm not talking classrooms (afaik most classrooms around here have access to *paid* staff of some sort, no?) but more like your local literacy council, small library, soup kitchen, women's shelter, yadda yadda ...

They usually have the hardware. What they need is the (open) software, and the training. And then you've just made a difference in their operation, and their life.