[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.