Upcoming Give Camps on July 17-19: Geek Out for a Good Cause!

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Those of you who know me well have probably heard me gush about Give Camps at one time or another.  If you haven't, take a minute and read last year's Ann Arbor Give Camp writeup or Lansing's Give Camp summary.  In those posts, I link to a bunch of other people's posts on the events - read them too.  Yes, it was truly that amazing. 

What is a Give Camp? 

“The single best community event I have ever attended. Sorry, Days of .NET. Sorry, VS Live, SD, Tech Ed, MVP Summit. Great events, all, but not the same. There's just something different about all working together under a deadline.”

- From Martin Shoemaker’s blog

“A technical tsunami of goodwill”

- Pam Smith of the Child Care Network, one of the charities that benefited from Ann Arbor Give Camp 2008

A Give Camp is a group of developers coming together for a weekend to write code for charity.  During the Give Camp, developers are welcome to go home in the evenings or camp out all weekend long!  There will be food and drinks provided at the event.  There will also be XBOXs set up for when you need a little break.  It is a lot of fun, for a great cause! 

GiveCamp_FINAL At the Give Camp, there is an expectation of “What Happens at Give Camp, Stays at Give Camp”.  Therefore, all source code must be turned over to the charities at the end of the weekend (developers cannot ask for payment) and the charities are responsible for maintaining the code moving forward (charities cannot expect the developers to maintain the codebase).

It truly is a very rewarding experience, and Give Camps have sprung up all over the area.  In addition to last year's Ann Arbor Give Camp, Lansing did one in April, and Grand Rapids may do one in October. 

Now, there are not one but two Give Camps coming up soon!  Register at the links below: 

    Michigan Give Camp in Ann Arbor: https://michigangivecamp.org/cms/annarbor/ (Register here)

    Columbus Give Camp: https://www.columbusgivecamp.org (Register here)

Early registration really helps us, as we are deciding the number of charities we can help by the number of developers that are interested.  Hope to see you there!