Everyone at camp was told that they had to write a blog post about camp, so I decided to write you this letter.
This was my eighth year at Cleveland GiveCamp (@CleGiveCamp), and it started off with a lot of hard work! Kevin (@kefrith) and I had to set up enough chairs for the 200 GiveCampers that were coming for the weekend of July 21-23, 2017. The camp was on a boat and in an airport, which was very cool, except when the air conditioner broke in the airport. Then it was hot! It rained on the campers Saturday night, but everyone stayed dry in their tents.
Kevin and I were in the hot airport at the social media table for most of the weekend, which was OK with us, since we heard that one person got seasick on the boat. A different camper on the boat wrote on Slack, “I felt like the room was spinning....I wondered just how much caffeine I’d had.... [Then] I realized, ‘I’m on a boat.’”
Camp ended up being really fun! Since Kevin and I were on the Social Media Team, we got to play with Twitter, Facebook, and watch fellow campers share photos of their cats and dogs on the #random Cleveland GiveCamp Slack channel! At home, we would get in trouble for playing on the computer this much, but at Cleveland GiveCamp, we were encouraged to stay up late sharing stuff.
A member of the Social Media Team set up a new Cleveland GiveCamp Instagram account, where they shared lots of great photos from the weekend! Check out our Facebook videos and HUGE Facebook photo galleries for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!
Social Media Team (links to Facebook & Twitter):
Sarah Reinbolt (@sreinbolt), Sandro Galindo (@azrael),
Stuart O Smith Jr (@sos_jr), Susie Sharp (@SusieSharp ),
Rebecca Ferlotti (@RebeccaFerlotti), Kevin Frederick Smith (@kefrith),
Laura Weichel (@LWeichel15), Lisala Peery (@ItsLisalaP )
See all Cleveland GiveCamp 2017 Team Portraits by Albert Bell (@PhotoAlBell)
The camp gave a special green shirt to me and the others who were on the Cleveland GiveCamp Steering Committee or were on Team Y -- the tech floaters team.
See all Cleveland GiveCamp 2017 Team Portraits by Albert Bell (@PhotoAlBell)
There were 20 other teams who played well together to build 19 really cool websites, and one neato database project for local nonprofit organizations. All our team photos are shared on the Cleveland GiveCamp 2017 Team Portraits album on Facebook.
See all Cleveland GiveCamp 2017 Team Portraits by Albert Bell (@PhotoAlBell)
Our favorite team was Team Z! They made us some really great camp food, and even coffee and snacks! The camp food had themes like cookout night, noodle bowl lunch, Hawaiian luau dinner, and leftover surprise along with pizza. The camp counselors surprised us Saturday night with our very own ice cream truck from East Coast Custard (@ECCustard)!
I know I started this letter complaining about the airport and boat, but camp ended up being super fun! We got to go out where REAL airplanes were parked and have our picture taken with all our camper friends!
Next door to the boat was a really cool submarine called the USS Cod (@SubmarineCod). We heard that some campers on the boat almost fell out of their chairs when the submarine crew fired a cannon!
One of the nonprofits getting a new website this year was the International Women's Air & Space Museum (@WomenintheAir) which is a FREE museum right inside Burke Lakefront Airport (@BurkeLakefront), where we did a lot of our camp activities! The airport was full of space stuff from NASA, airplane models (we were told we were not allowed to climb on them), and interesting pictures and facts about women pilots and astronauts.
Thanks, LeanDog Software (@LeanDog) and Arras Keathley Agency (@AKACleveland), for letting us play on your boat and watch the pretty sunsets each night. All the campers could not believe that this cool place is where you work.
On Saturday night, we even got to see fireworks from on top of the boat! We thought they were for us campers, but found out that it was part of a special 100th birthday party for the Cleveland Metroparks (@CleveMetroparks)! That would be a lot of candles for a birthday cake!
Lots of the campers got to sleep in tents, including Kevin. This is Kevin’s fifth time at Cleveland GiveCamp. He always gets to make a REALLY cool video about camp. He also edited a video for The Valentine Project's (@ValentineProj) Facebook page.
I even get to go to a Cleveland Indians (@Indians) baseball game for FREE, since I volunteered at Cleveland GiveCamp!! Thank you to BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence (@BVUVolunteers) for giving me tickets through the Indians Volunteer Challenge program! If you were at Cleveland GiveCamp with me, here is how to get your tickets!
I sent out a lot of tweets and retweets about Cleveland GiveCamp. Please share the ones you like by retweeting them. Also see all my photos and other camp stuff below.
Your loving son,
Stuart
P.S. Can I go back to GiveCamp next year?
The rest of this blog post contains information about Cleveland GiveCamp 2017.
Victory for all 20 Cleveland GiveCamp Nonprofit Partners for 2017!
We are excited that all 20 projects were successfully completed!
- Akron Blind Center and Workshop, Inc (@AkronBlindC)
- Consortium of African American Organizations (@CAAOCleveland)
- Cosmic Bobbins Foundation (@CosmicBobbins)
- Domestic Violence and Child Advocacy Center (@DVCAC)
- Economic & Community Development Institute (@ECDIoh)
- Empowering Epilepsy (@EMPEpilepsy)
- Family Connections
- Info Line, Inc. (@InfoLineInc)
- International Women’s Air and Space Museum (@WomenInTheAir)
- Lake/Geauga Educational Assistance Foundation (@LEAF_Ohio)
- Lorain County Safe Harbor DBA Genesis House (@GenesisHouse1)
- Love in Neglected Communities (@LINCworldwide)
- Progressive Arts Alliance, Inc.
- Services for Independent Living
- StarkFresh (@Fresh_Stark)
- Transracial Journeys
- University Settlement (@USettlement)
- Ursuline Piazza (@UrsulinePiazza)
- The Valentine Project Inc. (@ValentineProj)
- Womankind, Inc.
If you know of a nonprofit interested in becoming a Cleveland GiveCamp Nonprofit Partner in 2018, click here and fill out the form!
Craze eCool Award 2017
In addition to the free tech solutions (19 websites and one database project) for the 2017 nonprofits partners, these three nonprofits were awarded a cash prize through the Craze eCool Award 2017:
- Akron Blind Center and Workshop, Inc (@AkronBlindC)
- University Settlement (@USettlement)
- Womankind, Inc.
Photo by Katrina Blatt (@KATinCLE)
This year was the second year for the Craze eCool Award. Read more about this award in Bob Coppedge's (@Simplex_IT) blog post: Craze eCool Award 2017 at this year’s Cleveland GiveCamp
One of the founders of Cleveland GiveCamp, Andy Craze, lost his battle with cancer in 2016, just prior to GiveCamp. His partner, Jane Winik, along with Simplex-IT’s Bob Coppedge, created the Craze eCool Award in Andy’s memory. In this video, Jane tells the story of the Craze eCool Award:
Cleveland GiveCamp Sponsors 2017
Thank you to the 2017 Cleveland GiveCamp Sponsors! Their support enables Cleveland GiveCamp to feed and provide resources for the hundreds of volunteers who have provided their talent to all the nonprofits served over the years!
GOLD SPONSORS
SILVER SPONSORS
PATRON SPONSORS
If you are interested in becoming a Cleveland GiveCamp Sponsor in 2018, click here!
Cleveland GiveCamp Steering Committee 2017
Working on the Cleveland GiveCamp Steering Committee has been very rewarding for Stuart. He has served on boards or in a leadership role in other organizations, but the horizontal structure of this team is unique to his experience.
Each member giving of their time and talent is one of the key reasons that Cleveland GiveCamp has continued to be successful for eight years!
- Nick Barendt (@nickbarendt)
- Nicole Derr (@Nicole_Derr)
- Jim Gorjup
- Marko Iskander (@MarkoIskander)
- Carolyn Kearney
- Jonathan Knapp (@cc_jonknapp)
- Dan Nelson (@TheOneDanNelson)
- Spike Radway (@SpikeRadway)
- Mark Schumann (@MarkWSchumann)
- Stuart O. Smith, Jr. (@sos_jr)
- Amy C. Wong (@AmyCWong)
- Ashley Young (@FireandAsh216)
Cleveland GiveCamp 2017 Videos
Our son, Kevin Smith, helped to create the official Cleveland GiveCamp 2017 video and a video for The Valentine Project's (@ValentineProj) Facebook page. Kevin also created the Cleveland GiveCamp Facebook Cover Video that is at the top of this blog post.
Before Cleveland GiveCamp Weekend
Pre-weekend tweets:
Day 1: Friday, July 21, 2017
Friday photos:
If your device does not support Flickr.com photos/videos,
please view them here.
Friday tweets:
Day 2: Saturday, July 22, 2017
Fun Saturday meal video:
Cleveland GiveCamp Facebook video Lettuce celebrate #CleGC day 3 #lunchrush by
Social Media Team Member Rebecca Ferlotti ( @RebeccaFerlotti)
Saturday photos:
If your device does not support Flickr.com photos/videos,
please view them here.
Saturday tweets:
Day 3: Sunday, July 23, 2017
Sunday photos:
If your device does not support Flickr.com photos/videos,
please view them here.
Sunday tweets:
After Cleveland GiveCamp Weekend
Sunday, July 23, 2017, social media buzz the evening of victory.
After Sunday, July 23, 2017, tweets:
BlueBridge Networks 2017 Non-Profit IT Innovation Summit
The week after Cleveland GiveCamp, Stuart was invited as a guest of Kevin Goodman (@KevinGoodmanBBN;), managing director and partner at BlueBridge Networks (@BlueBridgeLLC), to attend their 2017 Non-Profit IT Innovation Summit. At the end of the luncheon, Kevin surprised Stuart by asking him to talk about Cleveland GiveCamp 2017. Stuart was honored to be asked to speak about Cleveland GiveCamp, and mentioned the following organizations in his talk:
- BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence (@BVUVolunteers )
- Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Cleveland Chapter (@AFPCleveland)
- Foundation Center Midwest in Cleveland (@FCCleveland)
- Cleveland Foundation (@CleveFoundation)
- United Way of Greater Cleveland (@UnitedWayCLE)
- Cleveland Metroparks (@CleveMetroparks )
- LeanDog (@LeanDog)
- Burke Lakefront Airport (@BurkeLakefront)
Here is a video that Great Lakes Geek (@GreatLakesGeek) blogger Dan Hanson (@DanHanson) captured of Stuart's 2017 Cleveland GiveCamp wrap-up talk:
What Others Say
Here are other blog posts about Cleveland GiveCamp 2017 weekend. Reading these blog posts is an excellent way to learn what Cleveland GiveCamp weekend is all about!
-
GiveCamp offers free web, software help for Northeast Ohio nonprofits
Posted May 4, 2017 by Akronist Staff Report (@Akronist) - Toby's Log by Toby Mackenzie (@macybot):
- Posted on July 21, 2017 - GiveCamp is almost here again.
- Posted on July 22, 2017 - GiveCamp 2017 day 1
- Posted on July 23, 2017 - GiveCamp 2017 day 2
- Posted on July 24, 2017 - GiveCamp 2017 final day
-
Empowering and Giving Voice to Non Profits in a Web and Data Centric World
Posted July 21, 2017 by Kevin Goodman (@KevinGoodmanBBN) -
Security Not Guaranteed - 2017 Cleveland GiveCamp Presentation
Published July 22, 2017 by James Gifford (@jrgifford)
NOTE: These are the slides from the security talk at GiveCamp. -
Helping Those Who Help Others
Published on July 24, 2017 by Albert Bell (@PhotoAlBell ) -
A Reflection on Cleveland GiveCamp: But, did you learn how to "social media?"
Published on July 25, 2017 by Rebecca Ferlotti (@RebeccaFerlotti ) -
WORLD SYNERGY DEVELOPERS VOLUNTEER AT CLEVELAND GIVECAMP 2017
Posted by World Synergy (@WorldSynergy) -
Craze eCool Award 2017 at this year’s Cleveland GiveCamp
Posted on July 30th, 2017 by Bob Coppedge (@Simplex_IT) -
CLEVELAND GIVECAMP: A TRULY ENRICHING AND REWARDING EXPERIENCE
Posted on July 31, 2017 by Kelsey Clark of Hurricane Labs (@HurricaneLabs ) -
GiveCamp2017
3D Photos posted by William Kiraly (@WCKiraly) COHEN-KIRALY DESIGN -
Tech Community’s Annual Soft Invasion of a Boat and an Airport: Cleveland GiveCamp’s Butterfly Effect
Posted August 1, 2017 by Sarah Reinbolt (@sreinbolt) -
Precision Dialogue Helps Local NPOs at Cleveland GiveCamp 2017
Posted August 1, 2017 by Precision Dialogue Team (@PD_Engage)
Interested in more? Please see our past Cleveland GiveCamp blog posts and other related blog posts here.
Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)
In case you have not heard the original A Letter from Camp, the Grammy Award-winning novelty song by Allan Sherman, here it is:
Comments
Thank you again BVU for Indians baseball game tickets
Submitted by Stuart Smith on Mon, 08/28/2017 - 20:18
Stuart O. Smith, Jr., MNO
Blogging at: sosAssociates.com/Blog
Former Cleveland GiveCamp Steering Committee: ClevelandGiveCamp.org/about/#steering
Former Web SIG Cleveland Leader: WebSigCleveland.org
Thank you again BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence (@BVUVolunteers) for the Cleveland Indians (@Indians) baseball game tickets through the Indians Volunteer Challenge program! We had a good time at the game!
Here are our tweets/retweets from the evening we attended the game: