NWA camp geeks for good

More than 50 tech-savvy volunteers will spend this weekend helping eight local charities write program applications, revamp websites and solve technical issues as part of the second annual NWA Give Camp.

The economic value of this give-fest ranges between $5,000 and $20,000 to each charity chosen to participate.

Sarah Daigle Scott, director for this year’s event, said the program is part of a national initiative started in 2007 by Chris Koenig developer evangelist for Microsoft Corporation.

“We are so grateful to NorthWest Arkansas Community College for opening their doors and welcoming us in this whole weekend. Walmart associates also stepped up big. They make up 30% of the volunteers this weekend,” Scott said.

She said Walmart also gives back in VAP contributions – an internal incentive for their employees to share their time and talent in the local community. VAP stands for Volunteerism Always Pays.

For instance, Walmart will cut a check back to the charity that is equal to the volunteer’s hourly wage for every hour spent volunteering.

Food was also donated by McAlister’s Deli, Flying Burrito and Einstein Bagels in addition to a number of businesses that donated cash to help cover food and drinks for the three-day event.

A team of tech volunteers were assigned to each charity and together they will attempt to resolve two or three of the charity’s top tech issues.

Developers of NWA, is the non-profit dedicated to orchestrating this annual event.

Scott said 16 applications were received from charities across the region in hopes of getting help.

“We chose 8 of them to join us this weekend. The only caveat to getting the help is that projects must be able to be completed in a single weekend – that eliminated a few of the applications,” she said.

Dig 4 Diabetes was one of the lucky charities to win a slot at Give Camp. This organization is getting a website revamp that will allow for online donations, a new blogsite and help integrating social media platforms, according charity spokeswoman Becky Paulk.

Holly Smothers, development coordinator for Community Clinic, said her wish list includes an updated website and database system to better automate patient records.

One of the largest tasks to master this weekend is establishing a new database for the Ozark Recovery Center, an organization that works hand-in-hand with Washington County Drug Court.

Scott said a number of database administrators and software developers are working to craft an automated system to handle the non-profit’s case management as paper files are still being used in most cases.

Sunday at 3 p.m. the volunteers will unveil to the public the work they have accomplished to help the charity they were assigned to.

Scott said this event is a true win-win because charities get valuable help from some of the best technology specialists in the region and the developers love nothing more than hanging out with their own kind for three days of tech-mania.

Participating Non-Profits
7 Hills Homeless Center
Circle of Life Hospice
Christian Women Jobs Corp. NWA
Community Clinic
Office of Human Concern
Ozark Recovery Center
NWA Autism Support Group
Dig 4 Diabetes