I look forward to Ed Tech Day each year. Every day, technology becomes a more pervasive part of our day-to-day lives. This can create an alarming productivity and opportunity gap between children that do and do not have access to technology. Volunteering for Ed Tech Day provides a way to directly and immediately impact this disparity in our community. On a personal level, it is incredibly rewarding to work as part of a team and at the end of the day be able to see computers set up and ready to be used immediately by the next person that sits in front of it.

-Tae Park, CIO, Greatbatch

Growing up in the beginning of the technology age, I quickly realized how important an impact technology was going to have on society.  At the time, computers were more of a novelty than anything else, and access to them was very exclusive.  My school did not have computers.  I only had access to a computer that I saved up my paper route money and purchased.  Many of my classmates did not have computers at home.  

As the years have passed, access to technology has become much more widespread than most of us would ever have imagined.  However, access to reliable technology is still not as prevalent as you might think.  Many schools and non-profit organizations still struggle with not having enough desktops/laptops, or aging desktops/laptops, or not having reliable network infrastructure.  On the flip side, many companies and individuals have struggled with disposing of technology assets, that are still quite serviceable. Being able to see both sides of the equation, as well as having access to good technical resources that share this same vision, is why I am part of the Educational Technology Foundation of WNY.  In the end, schools and the non-profit organizations get a very tangible benefit, with greater access to technology.  Volunteers get a "feel-good' benefit from applying their knowledge and skills to help others.  I derive great satisfaction from seeing another generation of young people get access to technology, which they may not have had otherwise, and that is the core reason I am proud to be a part of this organization.

~ Dave Rhoads

Eighth Annual Ed Tech Day Set for August 16^th

On Tuesday, August 16^th, almost 100 WNY volunteers will donate their time and computer expertise to give technical makeovers to schools and non-profits in our area.  The makeovers will include the installation of over 150 donated PCs, network equipment, cabling, servers, and other technology equipment that will dramatically improve access to current technology for the constituents of the receiving organizations.

Organized by the Ed Tech Foundation of WNY, Ed Tech Day has helped over 100 schools and non-profits that have limited resources to keep their technology current.  “One of the things that makes the event so successful is that the receiving organizations not only get the equipment they need, they also get the technical resources to have it properly installed,” said Renee Cerullo, Vice President of the Ed Tech Foundation of WNY.  Since 2003, the annual event has coordinated over $1M in service and equipment donations to the recipient sites that includes over 100,000 hours of volunteer support.

Sites benefiting from this year’s Ed Tech Day include: Annunciation School, Boys & Girls Club of Buffalo, First Presbyterian Church, Gateway Longview, Goodwill Industries of WNY, Immaculate Conceptions School of Allegheny County, Lancaster YMCA, Martin Luther King Jr Community Development Corporation, Mary Queen of Angels, Northern Chautauqua Catholic School, Notre Dame, Our Lady of Black Rock, Society of St Vincent DePaul, St. Peter's Lutheran School, Temple Beth Zion, and Vive La Casa. 

Sponsors for 2011 Ed Tech Day include: Working Knowledge; SunnKing; Time Warner Cable; Greatbatch; Cook Moving; RLComputing; Wendel; Systems Personnel Group; The Catholic Health System; Travelers Insurance; IRS; Ecology and Environment; Shatter IT; i-Evolve; University at Buffalo; CDW.

For information on sponsorship, volunteering, equipment donations, or to request services for your site, contact the Educational Technology Foundation at 716.250.4343, or email info@edtechday.org.  The Educational Technology Foundation of WNY is an all volunteer organization.

May was a busy month for us. Our annual Spring Connections event was a big success. On May 26th we had our annual Spring Connections event at Harry's Harbour Place. This was our most successful event yet. We had over 40 auction items that were donated and over 85 event tickets sold. Many guests went home with great prizes. At the event we always honor one company or organization that has above and beyond to help the Ed Tech Foundation during the year. This year's honoree was Sunnking Inc. Sunnking has helped us recycle all our old equipment at each site we work at. In January they picked up over 100 CRT monitors for us. At this event we raised $4500. Thanks again to all who attended and who donated auction items to the event.

Besides our Spring Connections event we are well underway planning for this year's Ed Tech Day. We are now contacting all sites that have registered for Ed Tech Day 2011. So far we have 15 sites registered.  After our preliminary phone calls with the sites we will assign team leaders in June to each one of these sites.

We have set up a lab at Working Knowledge to build and refresh all computers that have been donated to us. We will be working in team of 5-6 people and rebuilding these computers on different days and times. If you would like to help us rebuild these computers and servers please contact us at info@edtechday.org.

Save the Date - June 28th - 8-3pm - eRecycle Buffalo - We will recycle all your electronic equipment! stay tuned for more information.

Even though Ed Tech Day is in August we are busy all year round getting ready. I will be giving you just an idea of what is going on at the Ed Tech Foundation every month. Since the beginning of the year we have had a lot going on. In January we activity started to reach out to non-profits to offer our help to them. There are so many non-profits out there with little funding. We did a mailing to non-profits in the area that deal with children or young adults. So far we already have had 4 non-profits sign up for this year's Ed Tech Day. We are continuing to look for community centers, non-profits or schools that we can help. This is a focus for us this year since people do not know we are out there to help.

January is also the time we start submitting grant and sponsorship applications. We have submitted a number of applications so far. We have also completed a mailing to local businesses to ask for sponsorship or another involvement with the organization. The funds that we raise go to purchasing hardware and software for Ed Tech Day.

Time goes fast but we are also planning for our big Spring fundraising event. It will be Thursday May 26th. It will be at Harry's Harbour Club. Stay tuned for more information.

We are developing a plan to image/build all the desktops prior to Ed Tech Day. We are looking at schools, group projects, volunteers to help image all the machines. We usually have over a 100 machines ready to go prior to Ed Tech Day.