Hello, I am a member who is also running a major conference in the twin
cities focusing on the technology and the free thought movement.  I know
that many of the members at the Hack Factory care deeply about these two
themes.  There are lots of ways to get involved with this project, and the
one that I'm looking at right now is a technology themed volunteer project.
 I'm working with a number of constraints that make things difficult, the
biggest one being that it must be done on site with nothing but tables and
chairs and the materials that are brought in.  Also it must be something
that people from all skill levels can help out with.

The project that originally came to mind was assembling care packages for
low-income families.  While nobody can doubt the value of doing an activity
like that, it seems rather out of place at a conference like the one we are
proposing.  I would like to get some ideas for an activity that matches our
theme.  I guess what I am looking for is something that has parts that can
be assembled on site that helps people in a really cool way.  For example -
what if we came up with a process for quickly manufacturing the parts for a
basic electronics kit for kids - and then had people assemble the kits at
the conference.  We could give 200+ kids a way to learn how to wire stuff
in elementary school.  Such a cause would be worth a little sweat and tears
I think.

If anyone has any ideas let me know!  The conference website is
www.skep-tech.com.