Life is Short

Have you ever wondered how nonprofit organizations, NGOs, and small businesses obtain computer / IT technical support? Yes? I have too. You see, I believe that many small nonprofit organizations and businesses have very lousy IT support, and don’t know where to begin in increasing its quality. While I do not (yet) have hard statistics, I believe that many of these organizations can, and are willing to, better utilize technology in their offices and in achieving their mission.

Before I wrote another blog post that I published recently, I was planning on writing a more general post about an idea that I have been spending a considerable amount of time on over the past 2-3 months, although this idea has been brewing in my mind for over a year and a half.

I recently sent the following letter to some 200+ recipients, most of whom do NOT work for any nonprofit organization, but who I was hoping would be able to help me spread the word that I designed a survey and was looking for nonprofit organizations & NGOs to fill it out:

I value the work of nonprofit organizations such as yours and would appreciate your insight related to your technology needs. My name is David White, and I am the founder and sole proprietor of Smooth Stone Services, which provides IT services including consulting and web hosting solutions to individuals and small businesses.

For over a year, I have been considering launching Smooth Stone Services into an organization that will provide affordable information technology services to any organization in the world doing community development. Areas of service could include IT consulting, server administration, web hosting solutions, office computer maintenance, and much more. My idea is to provide a combination of these services with professional attention to detail and understanding based on my experience with both IT and community development concerns.

As I launch this venture, I ask myself whether another technical support organization is needed. I believe that my vision is unique by laying a groundwork for very close interaction with churches and NGOs in order to best address their technology needs. I also believe that the technology used in the international community development sector is not as supported as well as it should be.

As I complete my business plan, I have designed a brief survey that I am hoping you will take a minute or two to complete. Your results are completely confidential, and your help will be greatly appreciated. If you know of other NGOs or churches anywhere in the world who might be willing to take this survey, I would appreciate your passing it on to them. The link to the survey is: http://www.smoothstoneservices.com/survey.php.

If you do not represent an NGO or church, please do not fill out the survey. Instead, if you do know anyone who meets this criteria, please forward this email to them.

Recently, I have been working hard to network with people and to obtain advice from those who have experience in what I am trying to do. For various reasons, I am strongly considering to begin launching Smooth Stone Services into full time operations in June of this year and to find a part time job until I am able to have enough clients in order to keep me busy.

If you are in Boston, and you think that you know of a nonprofit organization or small business that could use my help, why don’t you tell them about me? I would greatly appreciate the reference. You can also contact me at Smooth Stone Services with any suggestions or recommendations.

A couple weeks ago, I met with a SCORE adviser, and plan to meet with him again soon. I have also been writing a business plan for over a year, and recently have been work on a Cash Flow Projection and have been putting together a budget into multiple Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.

I also obtained my MA Driver’s License recently – so I am an official, legal Massachusetts resident! Now, let’s hope that I am able to either find a job, find a part time job, or successfully launch a business in June.

I would appreciate any prayer, advice, networking connections, referrals, or other words of encouragement that you may be able to give as I continue to pray and think about this enormous venture. My heart, and my long term goal is to see Smooth Stone Services working internationally and for me to personally be involved in and working within small communities in developing countries. I want to help the poor help themselves, and I believe that I can do this by providing quality technology services to nonprofit organizations and NGOs throughout the world.

Recently, talk show host Glenn Beck said that social justice is a “code word” for Communism and Nazism, and urged people to leave their churches if they teach social justice. Until this evening, I have not been following the news, controversy, or even my friends’ responses. But tonight, something caught my eye and I had to find out what was going on: Sojourners twitter feed said “Due to the overwhelming response, you may receive a message that Beck’s inbox has been filled. Please know we will get your letter through.”

After reading a few blog posts that Jim Wallis wrote, I decided to write Beck and letter as well to tell him that I am a “Social Justice Christian.”

(You can read another article, by Politics Daily, from here)

As many of you (my readers) know, I studied Community Development in college and am now currently an Americorps intern for TechMission, an organization committed to bringing social justice to the poor. Being “socially just” and working for holistic transformation is something that I am called to as a Christian. It is also something that I intend to pursue as a career.

In addition to my work life, I am currently living in a small, intentional community in the heart of Dorchester where we are seeking to build relationships with our neighbors and learn what it means to live in a urban poor community. My housemate, Ben, intends to spend years here. I have committed to being around for the next little while as well. Social justice is not just an 8-5, M-F job. It is a lifestyle.

My Letter to Glenn Beck:

Being just is when I help someone gain something that I have and they do not. But social justice means more to me than simply redistribution of wealth or power, or reforming America’s immigration system. Rather, social justice should be encapsulated by a holistic, transformative approach to helping the poor around the world. If I am not assisting the poor and living my life in relationship with such people, I am not living out the gospel.

The theme of Amos’ book, a minor prophet in the Old Testament, is consistent throughout: Because a nation took advantage of another people, rejected the law of the Lord, and denied justice to the oppressed, the offending nation was going to be severely punished. “They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.” (Amos 2:7).

I believe that Bryant Myers gets is right when he writes in his book, Walking With the Poor, that “Poverty is a result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings.”

Myers goes on to argue that poverty (and I will insert, the need for social justice) is about relationships that are broken and that are not peaceful. One’s key relationships are with God, with oneself, with others, and with the environment. If I do not work for the healing of these relationships for those around me, I am not being just. If I am not being just, I am not living a life that will empower the poor to help themselves.

Being just is a Biblical mandate, and is my life’s calling that I will not back down from. So help me God.