One thing I seldom mention (and should probably mention more of) is my belief in giving back to the community. Sort of passing along the karma that’s been passed to me.
Being broke, I can’t exactly donate money to all the worthy causes, so I concentrate on what I can do. Two things I’m big on:
1) Helping others the way that I’ve been helped. I’ve had so many writers and DBAs teach me how to do things that I feel it only proper to lend my advice and the lessons of experience to writers & DBAs with less experience than me. I do this by being a member of a writing group & the local SQL Server Users group, talking to other wee baby writers (as Bear calls them) and junior DBAs I know outside those groups, and by teaching sessions at Code Camp / posting on forums.
Most people may not consider this a charitable cause, but I look at it this way. If my advice has helped someone get or retain a job, that’s one less person who is helpless in the face today’s awful economy. They are earning something of a paycheck, can pay some bills, and have the ability to do it themselves without feeling beholden to any ideal except “pass it along.” (I know I’m not articulating this correctly, but I hope you understand it anyway.)
2) My other cause is doing volunteer work for Family Foundations, a local non-profit organization that gives families in crisis assistance in getting back on their feet. Now as far as I know, FF doesn’t have any specific religious agenda. Their primary focus is on helping families, however families may be defined, which makes it a stellar organization in my book. Too many charities I know of place limits on the assistance they give based on their own personal beliefs. So far as I know FF doesn’t do this at all, which makes me proud to help them.
Family Foundations provides services such as debt consolidation, credit counseling, home buying classes, and HUD assistance. They offer classes teaching parents and children how to communicate with each other and a program designed to reduce non-academic barriers to student performance in school. Their fee-based programs include affordable counseling / therapy sessions for a variety of issues and bankruptcy classes. Unfortunately, due to resource and funding limitations, there is a three week waiting period for all services.
Recently, I was asked to be on their technology improvement committee. Our mission to find alternative solutions to the resource problem, such as setting up webinar classes that allow hundreds of people to participate from home rather than just thirty crowded into a tiny room. The problem is, they don’t have money to invest in the needed upgrades, which includes acquiring a new telephone system that can queue and re-route calls to the next available employee. The current system is very old and on its last legs.
I don’t suppose anyone knows of any companies willing to donate their old phone system because they’re buying a new one? FF has no problem with using older technology as long as it works.
