The iHackathon 4 Charity event on May 29th and 30th was a huge success! Over fifty participants across two cities, seven apps, and seven new charities!

I am continually impressed by the power of bringing together a group of talented people with a common goal. To brainstorm over a hundred great app ideas, and then to turn seven of the best ideas into a reality is truly remarkable!

Over the weekend the Halifax teams were busy creating four great applications; swipey tappy, a game teeming with hearts in support of Leave Out Violence (LOVE), Stick Person Theatre which benefits Joints in Motion, Artists4Good, a digital background app that showcases local photographer to help Clean Nova Scotia and Sushi Roll-Up, a light-hearted game that allows users to put together sushi rolls under a time crunch in support of Stepping Stone.

The Saskatoon crew developed three awesome applications over the weekend; WeDJ, a social DJ’ing app with a twist that will benefit Choc’laCure who help raise funds for the Saskatoon Cancer Centre, CoachPad a handy sports team sketchpad that supports North East Outreach a small non-profit charitable organization in Melfort, Saskatchewan that provides 24 hour crisis hotline and finally ShouldI, a social decision maker that will benefit Saskatoon Friendship Inn who provide breakfast and lunch for over 500 people daily.

To help bridge the distance between Halifax and Saskatoon, we streamed live video between the two venues throughout the entire weekend. It definitely added an interesting ‘room next door’ dynamic allowing us to share ideas with our remote counterparts.

Big thanks to The Hub Halifax, Mindsea, Say Hi There, Beyond The Box Law, InnovaCorp, Liquid Media, Vendasta and Zu.com for sponsoring this great event! And of course the weekend would not have been possible without all the fantastic volunteers!

As Margaret Mead once said, “never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”