Welcome to the NEW Ed Tech Foundation web site. We have added a lot of new features. You can now donate online, register for events and pay for them with a credit card, the blog, and a new photo gallery. This new site was donated by RLComputing.

This past Saturday, January 29th, the Ed Tech Foundation received a huge donation from Travelers Insurance. A few of the board members picked up multiple truck loads of computers and printers all in great shape. The equipment committee also began to use our new asset tracking system. This way we can keep better track of donations and help assign equipment to sites that need it. A big thank you to Travelers Insurance!

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.

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.

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.