What Could Easily Be Your Most Rewarding Weekend in 2012

How many times have you thought to yourself that you want to help those less fortunate than yourself but you just can't seem to get past the inertia to get involved. What do I do? Will my skills be useful to any charities? Is it a big commitment? What if I can't stand it; will I be stuck having to work on it for the rest of my life? Maybe it's just easier to do nothing...

Well, what if I told you that you can do something for a very worthy cause all within the confines of a single weekend in October and that's it. Period. No further commitment.

That's the idea behind Seattle GiveCamp. Nothing to do before the weekend begins on Friday, October 19 and nothing to do after it all ends two days later on Sunday, October 21. But the two days in between Friday and Sunday could easily be the most rewarding weekend of the year! I know it was for me last year when I led Seattle GiveCamp 2011.

Why GiveCamp?

So why Seattle GiveCamp? What goes on there? It's pretty simple: Seattle GiveCamp is a weekend where a number of worthy non-profits ask us to help them with a software project that can be accomplished in a weekend. Things like putting together a new website, automating some aspect of the organization's fundraising, moving data from point a to point b, creating a mobile version of their website, or hooking their organization up to social media. Charities like FareStart, Plumbers without Borders, Pacific Northwest Diabetes Research Institute, EarthCorps, Hearing, Speech, and Deafness Center, and Southwest Youth and Family Services to name just a few of the likely organizations we will help this year.

So that's the first (needy) half of the Seattle GiveCamp story. The other half is where you come in -- filling that need with a little software genius. Those volunteers coming to Seattle GiveCamp will get to hear about the projects on Friday night and then form teams of software gurus, programmers, designers, program managers, website wonks, and other software professionals to solve the problems brought to us by the non-profits. Any software experience is appreciated, whether that be C#, Java, Ruby, Android, iOS, Windows 8, WordPress, Facebook, or some other expertise. And all skill levels are welcome, everyone from the beginner to seasoned professional are needed. If you know how to contribute to a software project, we can use you.

And even if you don't consider yourself a techie, we can use you in some supporting position checking people in, serving food and beverages, etc. The important point is that we need you to help make magic during the Oct 19-21 weekend.

Your Call to Action!

Your call to action is simple: Visit the Seattle GiveCamp website. Read some more about this amazing weekend and then click on the Volunteer link to commit to that single weekend in October. You won't regret it.