BatchBlue in the community, in the world

• Posted June 30th, 2008
• By Michelle Riggen-Ransom (bio)
• Filed under: Community, Events/Presentation

When Pam and I had our first meetings way back in the winter of 2006, even before we had fully fleshed out what our first product was going to be, we talked about what causes we were going to support as a company and in what ways. As a team, we decided that the issues closest to our hearts were promoting technology and education, improving the lives of children, and supporting fellow entrepreneurs.

We were thrilled to learn of kiva.org, which allowed us to lend small amounts of money to entrepreneurs in other countries. We became lenders long before we started charging for our own product. We now get regular updates on our two entrepreneurs, who have since paid back 83% and 50% of their loans respectively! Once the debt is paid off, we can lend it to some other folks. How cool is that?

Over the past year, various members of the BatchBlue team have presented at Johnson & Wales University, the University of Rhode Island, and Rhode Island’s “We Mean Business“, which is an event promote and support local business. In February, we helped sponsor NewBCamp08 in Providence, which was an (un)conference held at University of Rhode Island on emerging technologies, and Adam gave a well-received presentation on getting started with web standards.

This past spring, BatchBlue became a proud sponsor of the Rhode Island Engineers of Tomorrow LEGO Robotics team, who went on to win 3rd place in the programming category of the 2008 First LEGO League World Festival, held in Atlanta, GA.

Because we are such a small company and still getting started, what we do is not a lot. We do what we can mostly by volunteering our time and services. But last week, just before we took the stage at our Providence Geeks presentation, a woman and a young man came up to introduce themselves. It was Mary Johnson and her son from the Engineers of Tomorrow, who had specifically come down that evening to thank us for our support.

Meeting Mary and her charming, delightful son reinforced the idea that even giving a little of your time or money can go a long way in the lives of those you are helping. Congratulations to the Engineers of Tomorrow: we look forward to seeing what your tomorrows will bring!