For the past 3 years Rock For Hunger has grown from a small group of college students into, well, a larger group of college students that are impacting the Orlando community in major ways. From throwing $20,000 concerts and events, to helping people find jobs, initiating lifestyle design programs, tutoring underprivileged children and feeding close to 200 homeless every week, they are able to do all of this without an office, a home base or a paid employee.

The group is led by a group of 20-something change agents (disclosure - I am one of them), sprinkled in with a few thirty somethings. The mission is to inspire individuals of all cultures to join together through music, education and peaceful solutions in order to end the cycle of hunger and poverty. This is done with the help of online communication tools, a strong internship and volunteer program and the ability to adapt to change and surroundings. Meetings have been held in places ranging from public libraries, board member homes, Panera's, mom and pop coffee shops, random office spaces, parks, college campuses, music venues, dressing rooms, over the phone and all sorts of interesting places that never have enough chairs to fit the inspirational Gen-Y's that lend their time, ideas and actions.

The group has grown organically, with volunteers coming from college clubs that bring in new Freshmen every year, friends that bring their friends, bands that bring fans and out reached family members who want to lend a hand. Rallying with weekly and monthly emails, a homeless blog, Twitter accounts, Facebook messages, events and physical meetups, everyone comes ready to deliver regardless of the physical environment with with they are located.

Success stories have come from cell phone calls to local education centers offering certificates in forklift certification to building resumes on laptops in library study cubes resulting in job placement at local hotels and security firms. This has all been made possible by technology and the ability to act and use the technology to find an answer to a problem. Think of the iPhone app commercials. There is a "hope" for that.

For the homeless Rock For Hunger serves, they all work virtually. Workshifting from one site to another, all trying to make a means to an end for the day. Having a place to seek refuge every Monday night for a few hours and kick back with friends, while looking at ways to improve their tomorrow in an office they enjoy visiting. There is no coming in late and everyone gets their questions answered by the boss. The concerts serve as places to not only showcase the product (helping the homeless), but recruit new team members (volunteers), give the community an opportunity to give back (sponsors) and for people to have a good time (the music). It is part conference/trade show and part job fair. It mixes entertainment with guest speakers, images of the impact in the community and ways to act - from Tweeting about the experience, signing up to volunteer, blogging to sharing photos and finding donors to make it all possible. In essence, it is a driving force behind the main product - change and education.

(One of Rock For Hunger's Homeless Friends at Recent Concert)

The growth of the Workshifting culture, mixed with technology and personal development have allowed us to tackle issues, find solutions and create programs in record time. On November 2nd, a new program, "Homeless Lifestyle Design" will begin that will take the homeless group through a 4-week program designed to change the way they think and envision their future through creativity, job training and financial awareness.

The course was created using things like Google Docs to pass through ideas, Basecamp to create milestones and send out tasks and Wordpress to manage the training site. This is all done seamlessly with our board members, interns and volunteers who never miss a beat or a deadline, because someone's life is on the line.

This post was not meant to be self-serving, but to show the ideas of working from anywhere can impact any organization, any payroll size and any goal worth achieving. Using tools for keeping organized, sharing notes and documents and throwing large scale events are now more possible than ever. Supporters and fans can live on any part of the globe and have the same impact as if they were in the board room. The product your company builds has the opportunity to help people everywhere with a few clicks of a button and the right marketing behind it.

We are living in a very exciting time and I am happy to be living and working that way.

Go make something beautiful this week Workshifters. Please share. It helps us grow.