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We help out.
Many companies - mostly larger ones - like to do charitable work. It's often little more than an effort to garner favorable PR and spend some tax-deductable dollars, but it's help nonetheless.We like to pitch in too, but for a much different reason - because we can, and because it's just a nice thing to do. In fact, Kanabec Systems has been involved in numerous volunteer efforts since day one. And several of these efforts are still going on today.
From food shelves to public media outlets, there are lots of organizations out there trying to do the Right Thing on a shoestring budget. We'd like to help each and every one of them, but our accountants won't let us. So we've chosen and completed several "pet projects" each year - all without earning our usual wages, or writing off our time or supplies afterwards. It's just the way we like to do things.
Each year Kanabec Systems donates hundreds of hours of labor and consulting time. Read on to see what we've done with those hours recently.
Kidsnet - The Kidsnet effort was one we began about six years ago, aimed at creating a specification not only for public-access computer labs, but also for the infrastructure that supports them, the centers that house them (making for tight intergration and a consistent "multimedia experience" throughout), and their interactions with other such labs.
Since its inception, the Kidsnet spec has gone through three major revisions, and has been implemented at five centers throughout central Minnesota. Two of those centers - the flagship Warehouse214, and the more-basic Stacy Teen Center - have occupied most of our Kidsnet-related time, and have been built and maintained almost exclusively on donated time and equipment. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of kids (many coming from low-income situations) have experienced the Internet and other feats of technology through Kidsnet-based products and services. We're proud to have been there, and to have helped make it possible.
332 Media - Mora Public Schools' Career Center has been known for their ambition in making student-driven, community-oriented projects possible throughout the years. But their latest project may just be their most ambitious yet: launching not one, not two, but three public broadcast outlets in the Mora area. (Temporary AM air studio shown)
As their consulting engineer, we've been able to handle all the technical details for KCIZ-AM (1650), KCIZ-TV (cable 10), and the soon-to-be KCIZ-FM (103.5)... leaving the educators and students involved free to dream up and create the best programming possible. Once completed, their facilities will be a living example of a "showpiece on a shoestring budget" - all three transmission facilities carefully engineered to operate at peak performance and quality; being fed by studios and equipment that are thrifty yet reliable, easy for their volunteer airstaff to operate, and capable of generating uncompromising output that all involved can be proud of. (We sure are!)
An Upcoming Project - We can't tell you exactly what it is yet, but we (along with some other good folks from around the region) are going to be making something BIG happen in Pine City this year. A few hints: it involves a brand-new nonprofit organization, it's going to be located in the city of Pine City, it'll have a building all to itself, it's going to need a lot of the kind of products and services we provide, and junior high/high school kids are sure to love it. Oh, and it has its own website.
Confused? Don't worry. It won't be long before things start coming together... and then we'll all be shouting what's now a "big secret" from the rooftops. Get excited - be on the edge of your seat - and be ready. No matter what you think it is, be prepared for a surprise!
