Boarded up Gary, Indiana storefronts.

Today is Blog Action Day, where bloggers are asked to write about a specific topic in order to bring more attention to it. This year's theme is poverty.

I took the above photo while driving through Gary, Indiana last week. Of cities I've visited in the United States, it seems the most depressed. In many cases, they haven't even managed to board up vacant properties. You can see right through them.

What can techies do about poverty?

If you'd like to do something to help people in need, strongly consider doing something that uses your skills. While helping serve food at a soup kitchen if noble work, try to contribute in a way that scales. That's what techies do best.

Here are a few examples:

1. Help a local non-profit set up a blog. Show them how to update it and coach them on what's worth writing about.

2. Help an organization improve their email. Move them off of Hotmail and onto Google Apps. Pay for their domain if they don't already have one.

3. Help them set up online donations.

4. Set up web analytics on their site and help them measure where online donations are coming from.

5. Set up a Twitter account for them and show them how to use it.

6. Refurbish and donate computers to them.

7. Help them improve their office network.

8. Show them how to collaborate on documents and presentations using Google Docs.

9. Design a new website template for them.

10. Set up a Facebook group on their behalf.

What would you add?