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Community Service Overview

The Hilton Head Island Computer Club (HHICC) Community Service Project is designed to give computer assistance to local not-for-profit organizations who cannot afford to hire such assistance.

When we solicited local agencies, we found that many lacked website knowledge, mass e-mailing expertise or general computer background and needed help. We analyzed each applicant’s specific needs and sought out appropriate HHICC members willing to share their knowledge. This project has contributed to the effectiveness and success of at least 44 organizations so far.

Here are some examples: We have installed networked computers for the Boys and Girls Club, helped several agencies understand database issues and built websites for the Main Street Youth Theatre, Jazz Lovers of the Lowcountry and the Lifelong Learning Institute, to name just a few. We created mass E-mailing lists and techniques for the local chapter of American Association of University Women (AAUW), Hilton Head Humane Association and the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina. These HHICC contributions have enabled all of these community agencies to learn and grow and take on new and more meaningful activities.

To reach out to the community, we publicized the project in several ways. In our monthly newsletter we introduced the project to HHICC members. They were encouraged to suggest not-for-profit agencies that might need our assistance.

A letter introducing the project was sent directly to about 20 such organizations. The club then made contact with the local newspaper, The Island Packet, and Hilton Head Monthly magazine. Subsequently, The Island Packet ran a front page article entitled “Island Computer Club Aids Other Non-profits, Byte by Byte.”

An article in Hilton Head Monthly not only told about the club in general but also reinforced our goal to provide computer-related services to other not-for-profit groups.

In January 2006, a women’s philanthropy group sponsored “Connections: Community Services Showcase” where 34 local not-for-profit agencies set up individual booths to offer their services to the needy in the community. HHICC’s Community Services Director along with several club members took this opportunity to visit each booth with an offer to help with the computer needs of the not-for-profit organization.

Each organization is invited to visit our website and download a “Not-for-profit Request for Assistance” application which it fills out and sends to us, along with proof of eligibility as a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. HHICC’s Community Services Director receives the request and finds a willing club member with the necessary skills to help. That member’s e-mail address is given to the agency so that it may present its request directly to him or her.

A list of requests with all the contact and request information is reviewed for progress at each HHICC Board meeting. One especially rewarding project was for our local Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) clinic, where retired doctors, dentists and nurses volunteer to treat the medically underserved in the community. Several HHICC members worked with the founders of VIM to establish a Volunteers in Medicine Institute and to write how-to manuals for setting up such clinics in other communities. The manuals were burned into computer discs for easy distribution. So far 40 communities across the country have used these manuals in setting up their own volunteer medical clinics.

Below is a list of some of the local not-for-profits that have been served by HHICC.

Alzheimer's Respite American Assn of Univ Women American Red Cross Art Center of Low Country Bluffton Self Help Boys and Girls Club Coastal Discovery Museum Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse CODA Deep Well Project Democratic Club South of the Broad Heritage Library Foundation Heros on Horseback HH Audubon Society HH Choral Society

HH Elementary School HH Humane Assn HH Rotary HH Sail & Power Squadron HHHS Strive for Excellence Hilton Head Library Island School Council for the Arts Jazz Lovers of the Lowcountry Lifelong Learning of HH Lions Noon Club Literacy Volunteers of the Lowcountry Low Country Grady White Club Low Country Volley Ball Lowcountry Community Dev Corp

Main St Youth Theatre Mental Health Assn National Federation of the Blind of SC Palmetto Quilt Guild Programs for Exceptional People (PEP) Pregnancy Center & Clinic of the Lowcountry Presbyterian Men of the Church Second Helpings Spay & Neuter Alliance & Clinic St Francis by the Sea Catholic Church Tennis Assn of Hilton Head United Way Volunteers in Medicine World Affairs Council

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