Nonprofits, Say Hello to Technology

GiveCamp. Imagine a room filled with many tables, covered in laptops, surrounded by blurry-eyed individuals, and a floor covered with seemingly endless cables going in every direction in an effort to reach the wall outlet. In the corners of the room you might glimpse some sleeping bags and tote bags with sweatshirts for the unbelievably chilly room, or even a programmer trying to get a few minutes of rest. From Friday beginning around 4pm to Sunday around 4:30pm, Grand Rapids GiveCamp, and the people participating, were a force to be reckoned with.

The Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo was privileged to be selected as one of 23 nonprofit organizations to participate in the Grand Rapids GiveCamp. GiveCamp, a weekend-long event where technology professionals ranging from designers, developers and database administrators to marketers and web strategists, donate their time to provide software solutions for non-profit organizations. This event isn’t only for volunteer ‘geeks’ either – a variety of volunteers are needed to make it all come together.

At this particular event, projects ranged from creating websites built from the ground and an idea, utilizing contact management systems, to overhauling an online form and data collection system (the project of the Volunteer Center… a work still in progress). Any 501(c)3 nonprofit organization can apply to participate and events are held around the state – and the country. The goal is to start the project on Friday and have a completed product by Sunday afternoon to present to the group. It takes sheer dedication by all of the volunteers to accomplish such a feat, and most were working around the clock (aided by one of GR GiveCamp sponsors: Red Bull) to get their job done.

Let’s not forget the commitment of the nonprofit organizations as well…
As the ‘technical representative’ for the Volunteer Center, I endured (and yes, endured is the appropriate word) the weekend with over 100 volunteers at the David D. Hunting YMCA in Grand Rapids. As one of the sponsors of the event, the YMCA donated space for all of the volunteers to take over. On Friday I met with our technical team to make sure we were on the same page with our project, and they starting cranking out code. As the weekend wound down, the Red Bull ran low, and the projects ramped up. The Volunteer Center still has a little more work to do to get our projects up and running, but the event was such a great experience, I wholeheartedly recommend nonprofits to apply and volunteers to volunteer for the event. I truly enjoyed learning more about Drupal, Joomla and DotNetNuke (those aren’t just ‘made-up words!), but I know that I have a long way to go and doubt I’ll ever catch up with our technical team.

Thanks everyone for your hard work at GiveCamp!

Photo by Adam Bird Photography

Learn more at http://www.grgivecamp.org/ & http://givecamp.org/

Halloween Volunteering: Scary or Scary fun?

Recently, the KAVA (Kalamazoo Area Volunteer Administrators) decided to “walk the walk, talk the talk” and get out in the community and volunteer. It’s always difficult to find a date that works for everyone, so we choose Halloween. What a great day to choose really…kids want candy, parents want to pass out candy, and the KAVA members went to Ministry with Community to serve lunch. I felt like this might be scary or maybe scary fun. The verdict was out until I walked in the door at MWC.

Alaina Parker (MWC staff) introduced us to Ministry with Community with a tour and description of all the services they provide. And boy do they provide services. They have EVERYTHING their members in transition need: hot showers, laundry facilities, access to phones, access to computers for resumes, and most importantly a hot meal in the middle of a cold October day. You name it- they provide it.

You may share some of the misconceptions I had about any organization serving food- you picture a “soup kitchen” where there is a line and disgruntled people get fed. MWC actually serves EACH INDIVIDUAL MEMBER at their seat, with food and all the utensils needed. And guess what? They weren’t disgruntled. Members had a positive outlook on their situations, even in a dark time in their life. They knew they were on the right track.

We even saw a few members dressed up for Halloween, which were some wildly entertaining costumes. There were all walks of life in that room and it makes you revaluate what you value. A gut check is what I call it, but in a good way.

I walked out of MWC feeling great about what I did, but also knowing there is so much more I could be doing for our community. It wasn’t scary…volunteering rarely ever is. I know I will be back to volunteer at MWC at some point…having a scary fun time!