News Report 3

Tech gurus use power of Web to help veterans
By: A. Pawloski
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/13/veterans.help.web.site/index.html


A group of tech savvy web designers have created USAtogether.org which enables veterans and active-duty U.S. troops to reach out to others for help. USAtogether is the child of Dave Mahler who was a former engineer with 13 years experience at Hewlett-Packard designing servers and software. A few years back Dave was in search of a new community service project, when he came up with the idea of creating a project that would help U.S. troops. The start of his project took birth in the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto. He used select stories and needs of its residents to launch his site. Browsers could select which requests they wanted to contribute to or whom they wanted to support.

Dave tried to combine the elements of Craigslist which eliminated the bureaucracy of the process in combination with the micro-lending web site that allows users to browse profiles of entrepreneurs to choose someone to give a small loan to called Kiva.org. USAtogether allows users to find a person in need by zip code, branch of service or need, creating a one to one link with the contributor and the person in need. All help that is requested is screened by volunteers of the site and keep the requests to less than 1,000 dollars. They also try to focus the attention of help towards items that really benefit people, so you will not see posts for the purchase of a new stereo.

I really think this is a great opportunity for those who have extra income or desire to help someone in need. I believe the people posting for help truly need the attention and support due to the pre screening of a post. This ensures that the help goes to a good cause and is not a scam. The best thing about this site is that people are already contributing and has been successful in helping veterans in need out. I believe it is a great example of how technology can help improve the well being of others.

-TJ