Join me for a NOLA Startups Home for the Holidays build

I want to invite you to join me on Dec 17th to spend the day hanging out and volunteering to help get a New Orleans family home for the holidays.

I did my first build with the St. Bernard Project as part of TribeCon and it was a blast and felt really good.  We painted and swapped brainstorms for businesses… it really was a lot of fun to get a chance to have in depth conversations about startups while helping to rebuild a home damaged by Katrina and get a family home.

I really believe in the St. Bernard Project and their mission to get people back into their homes that were damaged by Katrina.  At the orientation for our TribeCon build, I learned:

If reconstruction of all the houses damaged by Katrina by all of the organizations involved continues at the current pace, then all families who want to move home will be able to get home in 16 years.

St. Bernard Project Day for TribeConWow, that’s not good enough. This is a really motivating projection to me.  It makes me want to do more.  And I can tell you it really feels good to step away from the computer and volunteer at a family’s house where you can see the impact of your work at the end of the day.

After a great day of volunteering our time to bring someone home for the holidays, we’ll all head to the 2nd Annual Launch Pad Holiday Party to celebrate the spirit of the season with a few cocktails.  You’ll be so radiant with goodness no mistletoe will be required.

  • Home for the Holidays Volunteer Day
  • December 17th – 9am-3pm
  • Location TBD
  • Anyone who wants to connect with great people and rap about startups, technology and have fun rehabbing a house. No construction skills required! Don’t worry its fun, and you can do it!


Update: I’ll be making a $25 donation to the St. Bernard Project on behalf of everyone who comes out, so please help lighten my wallet and support an this important organization.

RoR Happenings in NOLA with RubyConf

New Orleans is home to many exciting happenings in the world of Ruby on Rails this week as RubyConf comes to New Orleans for the first time.  We’re excited to be hosting events at Launch Pad and sponsoring events through Flatsourcing.  I wanted to take a minute to share everything that is going on this week.

  • RoR Training Fundraiser – 11/10 9am-4pm – Jumpstart Lab is hosting an all-day training session at Launch Pad on Wed.  This class is an excellent TDD/Rails3 primer.  I’m personally looking forward to taking this class and challenging Anton to a code-off next time I’m in Kazan. All proceeds from the class are going to a Teach For America classroom. Sign up here.
  • RubyConf – 11/11-13 – RubyConf will be held at the Hilton Riverside and features three days of fantastic content.
  • RubyHappy Happy Hour – 11/11 5-7pm – Join us at the IP building for happy hour in the IP building and at Capdeville hosted by iSeatz, Audiosocket, Flatsourcing & Launch Pad. Sign up here.
  • Ruby Bayou Meetup – 11/11 7pm – Following the happy hour, take part in New Orleans’ own Ruby Bayou monthly meeting at Launch Pad. Register now.

I’m excited to be supporting these through Flatsourcing & Launch Pad, and most of all, I’m excited to take the class on Wednesday and start rocking the rails myself :)