Calling All Volunteers – Mozilla Service Week needs YOU!

Mozilla Service Week is coming up in just one month – September 14 to 21, 2009! The driving force behind service week is our strong belief that everyone should know how to use the Internet, have easy access to it, and have a great experience when they’re online. You can have a hand in helping organizations and people all over the world experience the joy of using the Web too!

Here’s how to help:

• Choose from a list of service opportunities: Search our partner sites (Idealist & betterplace.org) for a volunteer opportunity near you or anywhere around the world! Our site is now available in Spanish, Italian, French and German as well!
• Take part in “Earth Day for the Web”: We’ve partnered with OneWebDay on September 22nd, which aims to celebrate and preserve the Web as an important commons accessible to everyone. This year’s theme is “Digital Inclusion” and there will be local service events that you can join!
• Create your own: Reach out to a local school, organization or people near you to find out what sort of technology help they need. Here are some examples:
  • William Reynolds of the University of Virginia is going to teach his student council how to use social media to better communicate with students.
  • Tim Hogan and The Royal Order design firm are helping the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago rearchitect and redesign their current site.
  • William D. of the UK is creating a guide on how the Internet can benefit people of different age groups, different career paths and different levels of technical knowledge.
• Follow our lead: If you need an idea of how to help we’re providing a series of simple activities that can help make the Web better. First up is an “Internet Health Check” with easy steps on how to keep people safe on the Web. We’ll roll out more in the coming weeks!

Mozilla Service Week wouldn’t be possible without the incredible community and our wonderful partners who are supporting the program. Idealist.org and betterplace.org have stepped up to help organizations list service needs and help volunteers find them. Major names in non-profit technology, service and social entrepreneurship spaces have joined on as as “Friends” of the program to help promote Mozilla Service Week to the various communities that they serve which include schools, NPOs, NGOs and more. “Friends” of the project include:

• Aspiration
• ChristianVolunteering.org
• CiviCRM
• Community Technology Network
• Convio
• DemocracyInAction
• DonorsChoose.org
• The Extraordinaries
• GiveIndia
• IfPeople
• Innovation for People
• JustGiving
• Live Earth
• Ned
• NPower
• NTEN
• PopTech
• Social Actions
• Social Edge
• SocialBrite
• TakingITGlobal
• TechSoup Global
• The Transmission Project
• Zazengo

We hope you’ll join us in Mozilla Service Week and make a difference by helping people and organizations use something you love – the Web!  If you’re an organization in need of help, learn more here. For more details on how to volunteer visit here or join our online workshop tomorrow, August 19th at 9 a.m. PDT.  And, remember to register, pledge your hours and share your stories on mozillasevice.org!