BAYCAT, educators and job-finders for underserved youth in the digital media arts, is a local profit notorious for doing damn good work. On Thursday, July 12th, their space in Dog Patch robbed. All of the student laptops were stolen. But wait, it gets worse. "Beyond the cost of equipment, which is substantial for a relatively small nonprofit like us, the most devastating loss was five weeks of students' work, including completed comic books, first cuts of short films, and other projects that cannot be replaced," said Villy Wang, BAYCAT founder and CEO.
With all the laptops now missing, they don’t have enough computers to continue their program In order to replace the stolen laptops and equip the talented kids with all of the tuff necessary for classes, BAYCAT needs to raise $50,000 in 50 days so their students can continue to create award-winning short films. Please -- please! -- go here to learn more about their fundraising effort, The Show Must Go On. If you can't spare a cent, send it to someone who can? (Also, we know very well that a lot of well-to-do tech types and generous socialites read SFist, so, you know, come on, help these kids out. Thank you.)
Video below: heartbreaking scene of BAYCAT after the robbery, testimony from students and teachers.