IT Samaritans-IT Volunteers to help Non-profits

[Michael J. Mikelson]

Hi all!
 
IT Samaritans will hold it's normal biweekly meeting this upcoming at
6:30-8pm Monday, October 7th, at Stella's coffee shop in Denver.
Stella's is located on 1476 South Pearl Street.  To get there, since
T-Rex is tearing away most of the exits, I'd recommend taking the
Broadway or Colorado Boulevard Exits from I-25.  From Broadway, turn
east on Mexico and right on Pearl.  From Colorado Blvd, go south from
I-25 and take Evans (it's the first light) going west, and turn north on
Pearl.  
 
We've had some great developments with some of our volunteer
opportunities and I'll spend the first part of the meeting explaining
new and ongoing opportunities.  Here's a quick overview of what we've
got upcoming and ongoing, and will cover it in detail in the last 20
minutes of Monday's meeting:

*	A web-enabled MS Access Database for a national railroad safety
organization 

*	A web-enabled MS Access Database for a bicycle club that raises
funds in Evergreen 

*	A network project for a family support organization for children
with cancer 

*	A "parts to 'puters" day project for a national children's
organization 

*	several others too early to discuss yet.....

I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce a new program to IT
Samaritans.  For the next several meetings I will be bringing in guest
speaker who have some kind of inside connection in the IT Industry
(meaning they have jobs) and who are willing to give you their insight
into what you can do to improve your chances of success in the job
searching process.  No, don't worry, there's no charge other than you
supporting Stella's by buying their coffee!  We'll be giving these
special guests the first 45 minutes of our meeting, and I'll be using
the remaining 15-20 minutes to cover our normal activities.  
 
Alright, one set of rules for these events!  Don't bring your resume; we
don't want to see it.  We want you to focus on listening to what these
people (who are in positions to know) are going to tell you.  They do
see a lot of the do's and don'ts and will tell you straight up that the
beard has got to be trimmed, or that the skirt has got to be longer for
you to get the job!  Over the next few weeks, there's a chance I'll
arrange for some meetings outside our normal 1st and 3rd Monday of the
month, if these people need to be accommodated, but will not do so if we
can't have a full week's notice to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/itsamaritans
 
In other IT Samaritans News, we've recently had an attempt to start a
subgroup within our organization dedicated to Opensource issues.  We had
an introductory meeting that; well, should not have been held until a
tighter charter and direction developed.  I take full responsibility for
not requiring that prior to the meeting, but would still encourage those
who are interested in putting their OpenSource skills to work to contact
me.  
 
I and all of us at IT Samaritans fully support the idea that OpenSource
tools, products, and resources have a great value to the non-profit
community we support.  However, what can you offer as part of a
standardized services suite?  Are there any Product Managers out there
with requisite skills and experience to work with this enthusiastic
group of engineers to define an OpenSource offering?  This really could
be a great opportunity for someone who's been laid off to showcase their
talents to potential employers, and to do right by the community!  To do
this properly in a disciplined fashion, we really need someone from a
software Product Management background to help organize and drive this
effort with a coherent, cohesive mission statement and an execution
plan.  If there's anyone out there, please send your briefest resume,
and I'll for an executive committee to interview those interested!  This
really is a great opportunity to showcase your skills and bring a new
product set to life for the good of our community!
 
As always, we're looking for more IT volunteering opportunities in the
community.  If anyone knows of any, please direct them to me via this
email address.  We've gotten good traction so far, but there are a lot
of volunteer IT opportunities that don't know about us yet.  Please do
pass this email on to any IRS501(c) 3 Non-profit organization who may
need our VOLUNTEER help.  As always, there are limits to what we can do,
so our needs assessments will help define your project risks and let you
know if we're able to take it on for you!
 
Michael J. Mikelson
Founder, IT Samaritans
Denver CO
MJMikelson at yahoo.com
303-388-8555
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.nclug.org/pipermail/nclug-announce/attachments/20021005/fc54b8d0/attachment.html>