11NTC Day of Service Volunteers

Now in its thirteenth year, the Day of Service provide an opportunity for nonprofit techies to give something back to the local community where the Nonprofit Technology Conference is held.

If you haven't heard, the 2012 NTC will be held in April 3-5 in San Francisco. This year, we’re stepping up the Day of Service to include multiple days to help Bay Area nonprofits. Some projects will have a technology focus while others will offer an opportunity to support the good work of local nonprofits. Throughout the week, NTC attendee volunteers will be heading off site to give back.

[As part of the 2011 NTC, a group of attendees are documenting their experiences at the conference on the NTEN Blog.]

A Photo Essay by Wendy Marinaccio

A team of 30 NTEN-ers volunteered our mornings at the Community for Creative Nonviolence, which runs the largest homeless shelter in the country.

This year's Day of Service featured three different projects - a computer recycling project and installation of a wireless network in Washington, DC's largest homeless shelter and meal preparation at DC Central Kitchen. Approximately 100 volunteers participated in service activities. Event 360 was a sponsor for the Day of Service. My role was to document the event and collect stories.

The Day of Service, a long-time NTC tradition, gave NPTechies the chance to give something back to the New Orleans community. In spite of some weather related travel delays -- apparently, some pilots didn't want to play hide-and-go-seek with tornadoes -- 2008 saw record volunteer turnout for the DOS.

Volunteers traveled to the Community Center of St. Bernard to install a wireless network, others conducted strategy consults with local nonprofits; later in the day, there was also a video blogging work shop. Additionally, a second team of volunteers, led by some great people from Cisco -- who also donated the hardware for the wireless installation -- went back to St. Bernard to train local residents one-on-one.