The Geek Group's Hacker-Oriented High Voltage Lab In Michigan Damaged by Fire

Tech educational collective The Geek Group, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has more than 25,000 members, scattered all over the world — most of whom have never been to their flagship location in Michigan. Sadly, a fire Thursday damaged one of the facilities at their Leonard Street Labs (damage report starts about 26 minutes into this video), the High Voltage Lab. Since there aren't that many places for amateurs and hobbyists to learn about high voltage (even with the growing number of maker spaces around the world), that leaves a hole that hopefully will soon be filled; lucky for anyone interested, The Geek Group welcomes volunteers.

Re:Never heard of them

[Anonymous Coward]

25,000 is how many people they have "worldwide". Physically, they only have like 20 people. Chris, the owner has managed to swindle lots of donations out of people since he has been in this business (I met him in 1997), so he bought an old YMCA after a long line of other locations.

No need to turn in your geek card or anything else. It's a group of 1 guy who cycles through volunteers on a very regular basis who sucks $$ of out the community that could be much better spent on the real makerspaces around town. He posts videos and counts followers on his videos as "members".

Look up his history. He actually burned down his first building in Grand Rapids. He then moved to Kalamazoo and got run out of that town. He's on a first-name basis with his entire insurance company (not just the agent) because of all the incidents they've had to pay out for. He says he teaches kids and teens (he does hold workshops on occasion), but the amount of money he burns through could be much better spent on real community projects -- not his pet projects.

Re:Never heard of them

[slewfo0t]

Obviously this was posted by someone from the "Other" makerspace in town. Physically we have much more than 20 people, there are several hundred working directly with The Geek Group on a daily basis. Anyone can become a member - just visit the website and sign up it's free. If you want to work on projects at the lab, it's $40/month. The Geek Group is much more than a physical building, it's a community. It's geeks online and at the multiple facilities around the globe. It's crowd sourced engineering and science. It's a place to learn and teach technology. The Geek Group isn't just a makerspace, it's an entire community of folks trying to learn and teach technology. The fire here at the lab is a huge blow to what we've been working so hard on for so long. To sit on your armchair soapbox and dismiss it as you do and post as an anonymous coward speaks volumes as to the type of person you are. I'm sorry you hold so much contempt for such a great place. If you had any kind of soul, you would come out and help out with the rest of community. The Geek Group will get the mess cleaned up and get back open to the public. In the meantime, come volunteer at the greatest hackerspace around and show what your made of. Slewfoot