Microsoft TechEd Conference: Software Innovator is All About Charity This Year

Every year, Microsoft puts on a huge convention called TechEd, where some of the brightest minds in software development gather to show off their new products.

EKC has to give props to our client, major development tools company Developer Express, for stepping out of the spotlight this year in favor of drawing attention to an extremely worthy cause.

When the company found out TechEd would be held in New Orleans this year, and knowing how much the city is still suffering post-Katrina, it decided make local charities the focus of its attendance. DevExpress set aside the money it would normally spend on a flashy booth and used it to help Habitat for Humanity build a house for a local family. Meanwhile, the executives are currently raising money on the showroom floor by collecting signatures on a "welcome home" card, to be presented to the house recipient upon moving in. For every signature collected, DevExpress will donate $5 to the South East Louisiana branch of the Boys and Girls Club of America, for which the company is also conducting a computer drive.

Check out this blog post we just found, encouraging attendees to stick around for the cause:

A Great Reason Not to Leave TechEd Early

by David Worthington

As the week winds down, there are fewer people, parties, and principals are TechEd. But there is a very good reason to stay: helping rebuild the homes of victims of Hurricane Katrina. DevExpress is organizing a home building project on Friday in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. Kudos to DevExpress for factoring people into its marketing plan for this week.

It has been five years since disaster struck the area, but the damage is still apparent in many of the city's poorest parishes. I spent approximately two hour tours the damage on Tuesday, and cannot understate how important it is that relief efforts continue. Many homes are rebuilt, but many others remain as they were after the floor. The 9th ward still has homes with holes punched out of their roofs; others are condemned or empty lots.

BP's oil spill may be dominating the headlines, but Katrina victims still need our help. The poorest people didn't have the choice to leave.

Congrats to DevExpress for taking the initiative to do their part while in New Orleans. Habitat for Humanity will host a wall-raising ceremony tomorrow to celebrate the completion of the house DevExpress helped build. Great work, guys : )