Thanks for taking the time to share your story; it's inspirational. I used to do things like what you did -- just approach people out of nowhere and offer to work for free, I guess I've lost that drive as I've gotten a bit older.

Since I'm currently self-employed, but business is a bit slow atm, I may be in a position to do something like that. I've been building sites, scripts, mysql dbs etc on an amateur level since I was 15, so I think I could pick up this stuff quickly.

I will take you up on the offer and email (is it username @gmail?) you as I could definitely use some guidance from someone who's been there. First I'll be doing more research to get caught up so as not to waste your time. Thanks!