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January 28, 2008

Camp Woz: The Admirable Lunacy of Philanthropy

Camp Woz!There's a new documentary film coming out, and it features a certain founder of Apple Computer!

In 2007, Joe Patane and his friend Steve Wozniak, welcomed ten young men from New Jersey into Wozniak's home for the inaugural week of The Patane Foundation's Dream Camps. The first of these camps, 'Camp Woz,' was a unique camping experience focused on community sensibility, creativity, independence, and technology.

You may remember Joe Patane as a cast member of MTV's reality show "The Real World." He also spent time with Wozniak as an assistant in one of his computer classes for kids. (Nitrozac and I met Joe when we taught at Woz's class, and he is a very funny and very caring guy.) In his real world job, he works as a social worker mentoring emotionally and behaviorally challenged youths. Joe was inspired by Woz's philanthropy to start the dream camps, where these kids can be exposed to different activities and challenges that they may not have otherwise the opportunity to experience.

The documentary follows the youths, ages 14-20, as they work with Wozniak and other professionals learning the basics of computers, music, art, video, karate, dance, acting, and more.

Says Joe, "For years, I have wanted to connect Steve to my world of young adult social work, and share his optimism about the future and his contagious enthusiasm about technology and teaching others."

The film is a student-made, full-feature documentary of that camp, and is a completely nonprofit endeavor, with the proceeds going directly back to future Patane Foundation Dream Camps and kids-teaching-kids initiatives. Good luck with this Joe, what a fantastic idea and kudos to Woz for being a huge part of it.

You can watch the Camp Woz trailer here!

Posted by Snaggy at January 28, 2008 07:17 PM

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