Nerd Orleans

"We were in the Rockaways earlier this week to distribute solar kits. We found residents still do not..."

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:20:06 -0600

“We were in the Rockaways earlier this week to distribute solar kits. We found residents still do not have power and many are unable to leave their homes. We are starting a Buy One Give One program today for our 3.4 Watt Solar Kit in order to be able to expand the number of people we serve. Help expand our efforts now.”

- Help Voltaic Help The Rockaways After Sandy | Voltaic Systems – Solar DIY and Device Charging

In New Orleans - donations

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:14:17 -0600

If you’re in New Orleans, there’s box at Launch Pad set out for donations of warm clothing for people in need due to Sandy. Get down there, pals. Everything due to be picked up on 11/14 - next Wednesday.

n-judah love song: down the shore

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 12:36:18 -0600

n-judah love song: down the shore:

mizginevra:

I was 18 the summer my first love took me to learn how to play skee-ball in Seaside. Roller coasters! Photo booths! It was so different than the sleepy, sunny, fried-food-and-families beaches I knew. The water was cold, and it was explained to me that we weren’t really supposed to go IN the water,…

Mobile Food Pantry addressing Food Desert and Poverty Issues | New Orleans Food Trucks

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:23:31 -0600

Mobile Food Pantry addressing Food Desert and Poverty Issues | New Orleans Food Trucks:

How could we make a mobile pantry happen in Nola?

Nerd Orleans talk

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:53:19 -0500

These are the slides I pulled together to talk about Nerd Orleans. It’s better with me talking, maybe, but it stands pretty well on its own.

Want to know what it takes to build your own non-profit from the ground up?

Nerd Orleans View more presentations from Ginevra Kirkland

"Today is a reminder of not just the immediate devastation that can be caused by these storms, but..."

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:52:26 -0500

“Today is a reminder of not just the immediate devastation that can be caused by these storms, but the long term needs of communities impacted by disasters – whether in Mississippi or Alabama, Tennessee or Missouri, North Dakota, or the east coast states impacted by Hurricane Irene. This Administration will stand by those communities until the work is done.”

- President Obama says government continue to help Gulf Coast recover from Hurricane Katrina | NOLA.com

spoiler alert. We’re talking about Nerd Orleans tomorrow...

Wed, 25 May 2011 17:32:55 -0500

spoiler alert. We’re talking about Nerd Orleans tomorrow at Webvisions. Thanks to Bikehugger for the chance to tell the tale.

From the bottom of our hearts, from our salty, sassy city: thank you.

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 02:03:00 -0600

At the rate we’re rebuilding New Orleans, we’ll get everyone home in about 14 more years.

Nerd Orleans started back in March of 2010. Our first (but not last, y’all) project was based on one simple concept: wake up and fucking do SOMETHING. And we did.

For each of you who put a paintbrush in your hand, added a few dimes to the coffer, donated books (thanks, O’Reilly!) or those who offered plain old common sense advice: thank y’all. Thank y’all. Thank y’all a kabillion times a kabillion.

From the bottom of our salty, sassy city’s heart: thank you.

We did it.

What’d we learn?

First and foremost: volunteering is crazy fun. It takes you out of your own worldview and into another person’s life. As we said when we started: let’s see some people with a real problem. Miss Josephine here shared with us her story of how “a bunch of kids, who are MY ANGELS” helped her get home.

She’s home. She’s taking time out on her Saturday to tell us why she appreciates us being here to help. She’s awesome.

Love your neighbor. Spend a little time working on someone else’s problems, and guaranteed: whatever you’re going through today, this year, this lifetime, you’ll appreciate what you’ve got. You’ll shake up that piece of you that forgot that you’re really part of a community.

Preach: you are lucky. Get your fool self up and help someone else who isn’t.

Show up: No matter what you think is a blocker. No one wakes up on a balmy Saturday morning and thinks “oh gee, I bet it’ll be super to fix a house today!” Just. Show. Up.

We had nearly 150 volunteers who never would’ve shown up otherwise come help on our first day.

Experience: You don’t have to be an expert, you don’t have to sign up for the rest of your life. Just give a few short hours. It’ll be more fun than you ever thought.

We planned all day for the next event.

Plan ahead. No, plan WAY ahead. WAY WAY ahead of Nola time.

I’m not gonna lie: it’s hard to wrangle a bunch of people. Event planning’s not my strongest suit. (Event ATTENDING, now that’s another story.)

Ask for help. Keep asking. You never know who will be awesome enough to show up. (Hi, Pete!) Cajoling, wheedling, bribing and pleading: please help our city. Please give us something. Whatever you can. Keep after people. You can do it.

Be ready to communicate in the ways people already work with: I didn’t have fliers or business cards at the ready. I should’ve.

When you’re trying to do something good, people will sometimes tear you to shreds. To this I say: haters gonna hate.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you all for supporting this successful first project. We’ll be back sooner than you know.

We’re writing up our story about how amazing the day of...

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 19:22:00 -0500

We’re writing up our story about how amazing the day of service turned out to be, the ideas we’re working on for the future, and how else you can help.

In the meantime, near or far, don’t forget where ya came from.

Image via our homies Dirty Coast.

Happy volunteers and Miss josephine.

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 17:05:00 -0500

Happy volunteers and Miss josephine.

"build as though it were your grandparents' house."

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 16:47:46 -0500

An amazing, fun, laid-back day was had by all yesterday at our first service project. O’Reilly was kind enough to donate books our way, which we gave to our friends at the St. Bernard Project. Ideas were hatched and a house was painted.

There’s more stories to tell, but for now, we want to thank you for all your love and support thus far, and to let you know Nerd Orleans will continue in its mission: bringing geeks together to help New Orleans and surrounding areas.

Nerds at work

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 17:54:18 -0500

Nerds at work

“Five years is a long time to be away from home.”

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 11:54:00 -0500

“Five years is a long time to be away from home.”

The DH bus arrives at St Bernard Project

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 09:48:55 -0500

The DH bus arrives at St Bernard Project

let’s go get ‘em.

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 07:39:14 -0500

let’s go get ‘em.

tomorrow's the first service day

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 12:30:03 -0500

Our ragtag group is swinging hammers for our first on-site rebuilding event tomorrow. Stay tuned here and to our Twitter for updates.

Can’t be here for tomorrow’s event? You can buy your...

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 12:27:36 -0500

Can’t be here for tomorrow’s event? You can buy your own sweet Nerd Orleans gear and show the love. We’re going to be giving away some other cool gear over the next week, too.

"Providing service opportunities for people who are tech-savvy is a great idea. Who better to swing a..."

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 07:34:42 -0500

“Providing service opportunities for people who are tech-savvy is a great idea. Who better to swing a hammer and help turbocharge websites and blogs for non-profit organizations trying to help aid Katrina victims? And if you are better at better at homebuilding than you are with HTML, that’s okay, too. Nerd Orleans has made rebuilding houses a core of its mission.”

- Y’all, we’re an “upbeat Tumblr blog”. Read our full feature in Service Nation today:

Nerd Orleans: Rebuilding New Orleans One Geek At A Time | ServiceNation

books, t-shirts, and other stuff that's awesome for people who rule

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 06:12:29 -0500

Tech ubergeeks O’Reilly are kindly donating some favorite titles to Nerd Orleans. World-reknowned for their adorably weird animals and exhaustive library of awesome, we’re happy that they found us here on Tumblr, and want to help.

Got a favorite O’Reilly book we should know about? Let us know, we’re in a staring contest with this wall-eyed flying squirrel-thing.

Plus: due to a slight miscommunication, our t-shirts from Alternative Apparel were actually printed in invisible ink. We’ll be doing another run of them with the logo, so if you’re interested in picking one up, you should probably come hear your #octribe speak at Tribecon, where we’ll have shirts, water bottles, and lots of other awesome swag to give away.

Be a New Orleanian. Wherever you are.

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 03:33:43 -0500

“It just slays me that there are people Out There who are committing themselves to this city when they have no other need or obligation to, no other reason than that they think it’s the right thing to do.

They believe in us.”

Chris Rose, 1 Dead In Attic