I think I am at a point where I can truly contribute to a Ruby open source project, can you suggest one or more that would be open to having a true beginner contribute. This would be my first group project where I would like to be 'mentored' or something similar by a more experienced coder. I would be able to work in my free-time and for free.
I would like to contribute my time for free to a Ruby open source project, what are some beginner friendly Ruby projects?
open source;ruby;free time
Head over to OpenHatch or ohloh and do some looking around.  Both of these sites are good places to start looking for open source projects to contribute to.