oneilsoft.com - The FIRST Choice of Record Centers Worldwide

One of the most enjoyable and difficult parts of organizing our Strategic Partner Conference, is choosing which charity we will focus on.  The charity aspect to the conference was something we first introduced in 2007, to spice up our major networking event - the Record Center Challenge ^tm.

That year we challenged 22 teams of 6 people to construct bicycles to be donated to a local charity for under privileged children.  Competition to build the best bicycle was fierce but every one turned out to be a masterpiece of modern engineering.  With the help of a generous "sponsorship" of $2000, which was also given to the charity, we made a lot of children very happy.  The bicycles ended up at a surf-camp, where children came for a one-week vacation and were provided with their bicycle for the week.  Over the last three years, hundreds of children have enjoyed those bicycles

The feedback we received was wonderful.  Networking at the Strategic Partner Conference is one of the most appealing aspects.  Networking with a bigger purpose made it all the more fun and worthwhile.

At our last Strategic Partner Conference, we looked further and partnered with a national charity: Share Our Strength.  A charity that, once again, focused on children but their attention was on food education. This gave us all sorts of fun ideas for the Record Center Challenge ^tm and we ended up with a cook-off, judged by three head chefs from the local hotels.  The photographs speak for themselves about how enjoyable this all was but most importantly, we cannot forget your generosity. We hoped to raise $10,000 for the Share Our Strength charity but, with all your support, we raised $23,006.81.  With the expansion of the "sponsorship" of any aspect of the conference, with all the donations going to the charity, to the introduction of a silent auction.  This was an amazing contribution to a worthwhile cause.

So, here we are again.  Looking at several charities and deciding which worthwhile cause we should all get involved with for 2010.  One thing is for sure.  It will be children-based and will be a worthwhile cause.  We will announce our decision very soon.