Although the organizations that provide disaster relief services have reported that they have enough professionals and volunteers right now, your IT skills will be no less valuable six months or a year from now, right in your local community, than they would be today. "What happens with a disaster like this is that everyone today wants to help. And six months from now, there won't be anyone around," says Todd Curtis, a network engineer who has been volunteering fulltime in the IT department of the Red Cross in Greater New York. 

The Red Cross, for example, expects to continue providing services related to the attack for the next five years. The key, Curtis says, is to get involved now so that you are already trained and part of the system as new needs emerge. "And you don't have to be in New York," he adds. "Red Cross chapters all over the country need IT help." Volunteering in your local community with an organization involved with the disaster relief is as helpful as being at Ground Zero, Curtis notes. Local support indirectly contributes by saving resources for the primary relief efforts, he explains.

In addition to the Red Cross, other national organizations providing disaster relief services include the Salvation Army, the United Way, CityCares, the ASPCA, the National Mental Health Association, and others. To register with a national database of volunteers, go to the "volunteer" page of the Helping.org Web site at http://www.helping.org/volunteer/index.adp. Helping.org also features a comprehensive list of organizations seeking donations.

While the organizations providing disaster relief will have many IT requirements, don't forget that other nonprofits and community services also have ongoing IT needs. "Take that instinct to volunteer that's been raised by this crisis, and channel it into other volunteer opportunities," recommends Eric Hancock, client relations manager and cofounder of New York-based Voluntech (http://www.voluntech.org), which provides free IT services to nonprofits. "This crisis notwithstanding, nonprofits are always resource-constrained, and they always have a need for some kind of troubleshooting, networking, and IT support."

Nonprofits need IT professionals to jump in, roll up their sleeves, and tackle a wide array of projects such as tweaking the performance of its membership and donations system, leveraging the Web for community outreach, or creating a Notes database of volunteers and their skills. One of the biggest needs among nonprofits, Hancock says, is training and instruction in PC applications such as Excel or PowerPoint.

Volunteering can have a positive effect on your professional life. Working on a project that has an immediate, visible impact can be reinvigorating if you're feeling stuck in a rut. It may also provide the opportunity to develop new skills that you aren't developing on the job. More importantly, if you're questioning your purpose or priorities, using your skills to the benefit of others may help you achieve clarity. Your volunteer work may even inspire you to redirect your career into the nonprofit arena.

Although nonprofit organizations can not pay the high salaries many IT professionals expect, they typically offer saner hours and a level of job satisfaction that comes only from knowing you've made a difference.