

Tell HN: I'll donate 4 hrs tomorrow to a charitable project, continue in 2012 - nyellin
http://natanyellin.com/2011/12/24/away-from-home-hack-some-good-for-the-holidays/

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mw63214
Instead of donating that 4 hours of time to one specific project in need, why
not create a platform for others to donate time? Think of a kickstarter, but
for man-hours.

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andredieb
This is awesome. Is anyone doing it already?

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mw63214
I found this after a quick search. <http://givecamp.org/> . Not exactly the
same idea, but it's on a good track.

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nyellin
Please, don't just upvote! I'm looking for an organization or project that can
use my help. I want to hear suggestions.

My skills:

* C (I haven't written a compiler, but I'm pretty experienced with the lesser-known intricacies of C)

* Web development, Python, and Django (I created Freeversation and have two more projects in the works)

However, I can help with anything else as well! I'm a well-rounded coder with
some degree of experience in lisp, ruby, C#, Java, and Javascript. I can also
help with marketing, writing, or design.

Edit: Why the downvotes? Let me know if I've done something wrong.

~~~
shtylman
The downvotes are because you a making it seem like your "4hrs" of time is
worthy of some god like recognition. In reality, 4 hours is basically nothing
for an established project and you will be lucky to even begin to understand
the project functions or where the best place to contribute is.

You are not going to hand out food at a shelter or rake someone's lawn.
Participating in a project is not something to be taken too lightly. I would
suggest you read up on some of the projects you like and what their goals or
TODO items are. Then pick one and start contributing. Don't make it about
getting karma, but about contributing.

~~~
flavio87
I do agree with your point that 4 hours is not much and that it should not be
taken lightly. However I still admire him for even thinking about it and don't
think he is longing for some god like recognition. View it as a first step for
him and maybe, if he realizes how much he is enjoying doing something
charitable he will want to do much more. Hopefully you find a project that
allows you to understand what they do within the first day and then can commit
some more time to it during 2012!

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jshock
We are looking for help at Community Plates (<http://communityplates.org>) -
we are a non-profit that gets extra food (that is still good obviously) from
restaurants and grocery stores that would normally be thrown out and we
deliver it to food pantries and soup kitchens.

We use software to connect all of the volunteers with the food runs. We
started in April and have over 100 volunteers plugged in to date and are
growing quickly. We started in Fairfield County, CT to validate the concept
and are so happy with the response we've gotten from the community. We're
going to add a few more cities at the beginning of 2012.

On the dev side, it's built in PHP on the Kohana framework, with jQuery
mobile, and it's tough for me to keep up on my own with my day job and would
love some help although it will take a few hours to get your footing so it's
probably not worth someone's time unless you can commit 20 hours or so.

If you or anyone else is interested or has any questions let me know.

Thanks.

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madamepsychosis
Any London hackers who want to get involved with a charitable project should
check out Interactivism. <http://simpl.co/interactivism/YP>

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radagaisus
Following the recent HN trend I suggest open-knesset: <http://oknesset.org/>

They work with Python and Django, and they are trying to make the government
more transparent. Their code is on github: <https://github.com/ofri/Open-
Knesset>

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earnubs
Locally a coffee shop is serving free Christmas dinners to the homeless and
destitute, they're very grateful for any financial or physical help, maybe
there's something like that near you?

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nyellin
I want to explore some less traditional causes. I have helped at local
organizations in the past, and I want to see if I can help more using my
professional skills.

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DanBC
Can you speak any other language? Could you translate any software or
documentation?

Can you write documentation, or clean up documentation?

~~~
nyellin
I speak Hebrew, but I'm not comfortable enough to translate _to_ Hebrew. I can
write and clean up documentation.

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Tyrant505
Want to help save asian elephants? Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society
needs some help!

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artursapek
This is an awkward post. I don't know if helping some charity with its website
is as in the spirit of Christmas as helping in person like earnubs suggests.

~~~
nyellin
This _isn't_ in the Christmas spirit, as I don't celebrate Christmas and I
want to help by doing what I do best, not what makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

