WWT Datacenter Services Team Blog

If you’re in the IT industry you’ve more than likely attended some of the numerous vendor conferences such as VMworld, Cisco Live, etc. One common theme amongst these events, besides the great learning opportunity, seems to be backpacks being given out to all the attendees. While they are a great use during the show to carry all the gathered information and other swag you may pick up, what I’ve found is that when I get home, the backpack is usually just put in the basement and there it sits amongst all the others I’ve collected over the years.

Well, I just got back from VMworld and having gone through my normal routine of pulling all the collected information out, I made that trip downstairs to put the newly obtained backpack with the rest.

Seeing the pile, I began to think… 

Wouldn’t it be awesome to get these things to someone in need? Perhaps a child whose parents couldn’t afford to buy them a school backpack? What if I could also throw in some school supplies…Perhaps some pencils, paper, etc? Another thought was to get them to a homeless shelter where the less fortunate could use them to put their things in…stash them with a few toiletries to help get them through another day?

So… I’ve made the decision to do just that! 

In the coming week I will be placing calls to shelters and schools to see where the need fits most. Since we’re already a few weeks into the new school year, it’s very possible schools will have all they need in which I’m certain, a backpack full of toiletries would come to great use for our homeless community.

If the above interests you, and you too have an ever-growing collection of backpacks, I’d challenge you to donate yours. In fact, I’d be happy to take it off your hands to add it to the donation collection, to fill it with needed items and donate it to someone in need. If you’d like to include a small donation or even pre-packed with school supplies/toiletries, I’ll make sure it goes to good use and that everything makes its way to a child or individual needing a little help in their lives.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll make a promise to update this blog with my findings as I contact shelters and schools. I’ll also include ship to information along with the chosen path for donation (School vs. Homeless) so that if you’re interested, and choose to prepack it with supplies, you will know what cause it is going to. Of course lots of updates, pictures, etc of everything coming together will also come with the updates.

VMworld had close to 20,000 attendees and if just a fraction of the attendees donated their bags, I’m certain the impact would be felt all around us.

If you have any thoughts and suggestions feel free to leave a comment below. I hope that you stay tuned in and can help with this cause.

-Chris