Google announced the winners of its "Giving through Glass" contest and 5 US-based nonprofits will receive a free Google Glass along with $25,000 in grants each to use the eyewear for good.
The internet search titan, Google introduced "Giving through Glass" contest last October inviting US nonprofits to share ideas on how best to put Google Glass into use for the betterment of their missions. After sifting through more than a thousand proposals, Google has finally come up with five winning nonprofits that will receive a free Google Glass, a training session by its own engineers and a $25,000 grant.
The web giant announced the winners in an official blog post, Wednesday, namely 3000 Miles to a Cure, Classroom Champions, The Hearing and Speech Agency, Mark Morris Dance Group and Women's Audio Mission. The winners will also have access to Glass developers who can help them in turning their projects around, Google said.
"We believe technology can help nonprofits make a difference more easily, and connect people to the causes they care about," Jacquelline Fuller, Director of Google.org, wrote in the blog. "It's with this in mind that we launched Giving through Glass-a contest for U.S. nonprofits to share ideas for how Google Glass can support the impact they're having every day."
All winning nonprofits have different plans to use the Glass to help achieve their mission. Classroom Champions will bring Olympic and Paralympic athletes and students in high-need schools together to see what the athletes need to train and compete. The Bay Area-based Women's Audio Mission will use the high-tech eyewear to bolster training programs for women and girls with interest in music and science.
North Carolina-based 3000 Miles to a Cure will use the eyewear to raise money for brain cancer research. The Hearing and Speech Agency will use the Glass to improve communication among people with speech disabilities, hearing loss and autism and the Mark Morris Dance Group will help people with Parkinson's disease remember and trigger body movements with the help of Glass.
The Google Glass has received mixed reactions from different people. The Glass is not widely available and is restricted to some markets, it became available in the United Kingdom last month. Despite being banned from movie theaters and some bars, Google has continued to upgrade its Glass system and explore ways to put it to better use.
The "Giving through Glass" winners will be trained on how to use the eyewear by a Google Glass team at the company's base camp in San Francisco, next week, Google said.
