Compass Designs

Back in December we asked the Joomlashack community to nominate their favorite charity for our contest. In eight days you sent us over 110 nominations from worthy organizations from around the world. After a fascinating, fun, and difficult evaluation process, Team Joomlashack picked these five charities as our finalists.

And the runaway winner of the contest were the children of Casa do Caminho Orphanage, with almost 50% of the vote.

There a couple dozen little Brazilian kids who are about to get some sweet computers!

Staff and Children from the Casa do Caminho Orphanages

Why? Because a couple hundred of their Joomlahead friends voted in our Charity Starts at a Joomla Homepage Contest, and their orphange won the prize!

Back in December we asked the Joomlashack community to nominate their favorite charity for our contest. Word spread quickly thanks to good friends like Amy Stephen and Cory Webb, who used their blogs to get the word out. In eight days you sent us over 110 nominations from worthy organizations from around the world. Twenty seven submitted information to be considered as a finalist. After a fascinating, fun, and difficult evaluation process, Team Joomlashack picked these five charities as our finalists.

And the runaway winner of the contest were the children of Casa do Caminho Orphanage, with almost 50% of the vote.

Casa do Caminho Orphanages "protect 38 children and teenagers from the violence, drugs, and poverty of the shanty towns in Rio de Janeiro.  Their mission is to shelter and protect children and adolescents from all different family backgrounds and vulnerable situations, provide educational opportunities, improve their employment potential, and prepare them for re-integration into their families."

Our team, and the voters, were impressed that this orphanage strives to give their children not only a roof and a bed, but a plan, some skills,  the resources, and a family of people around the world  to build their sense of hope, too. We also loved the great volunteer energy that has gravitated to their orphanages as well.

"We're extremely grateful and proud to win the Joomlashack competition,"  Bart Bijen, Director of Casa do Caminho, wrote to us upon hearing the good news. "Our victory shows the strength of Casa do Caminho's international community of supporters and volunteers." His people were all over our forum discussing the contest, and apparently voted early and often.

Bart was also quick to thank his volunteer webmaster Alice Boit of www.wonderland-projects.info for nominating them. According to Bart, since their website already sports a Joomlashack template, they'd rather have the $1,000USD to buy equipment and internet access for their ICT Project, which brings web technologies to their children right at their 3 centers. "The long-term effect is that they will have fundamental skills required for employment and therefore potentially can compete for a reasonable wage to ensure their future security," Bart tells us. "We even hope that in 1 or 2 years our children will be involved in our website design and content. We believe that this is educational and a lot of fun for both our children and our website visitors."

Wouldn't it be cool if one of these little guys worked for Joomlashack someday?

Congratulations to all the people who make Casa do Caminho a special place for their children and the volunteers that come from all over the world to love and support them. If you haven't taken the time to make a charitable contribution directly to Casa do Caminho, now's the time.

Take a look at the other four finalists - they all deserve your support and you can make a donation now!

One forum poster suggested that another Joomla developer, individual or company match Joomlashack and repeat our offer for the second place non-profit. We think that's a great idea, email us at support[at]joomlashack.com if you would be so generous!