Helping The Needy Get Nerdy!
- 2
- Add a Comment
As some of you may already know, I will be moving to Vancouver, WA (near Portland, OR) in the coming months. And one of the biggest things that has been on my mind is being sure that I will have a way to meet new and interesting people, when my schedule allows. Sure, I know Greg, but I am also looking to do a little volunteering to help get me out of the house once in awhile, too. So when I (re)-discovered Free Geek in Portland, I really felt like I would have a chance to be amongst my own.
Now some of you will likely see this as a way for some individuals to hook up with a free PC with no strings attached? Allow me to put this belief to bed right now: If you want to be given a PC, you will have to earn it. That’s right, this is an ecosystem where hard work gets you into a PC that perhaps you could not otherwise afford. Even more important, I see this as a place I can do some good work for when I am dealing with a bad case of cabin fever after moving down south. Considering my background in PC repair, I am sure that this group could put me to work in the build program. I think this makes sense considering my skills with both PC building and Ubuntu/other Linux distros.
Think this might be something you are interested in? Take a look around, there very well may be an off-shoot near you!
[tags]charity,working,ownership,time,computers[/tags]
2 Comments
Chris Rohde
May 7th, 2007
at 9:32pm
Matt:
Will you please keep us posted about your experiences with Free Geek? I recently started the Ubuntu Florida LoCo Group (roughly 40 members now, since March) and we are trying to find a philanthropic outlet for all our ridiculous surplus parts.
My only issue with freegeek is the built-in overhead, in that you almost need a storefront, and most definitely need full time staff. While I have no problems setting up a 501(c)(3) to handle the money, a program closer tied to something like Computers For Kids seems more up our alley.
But since some of my members are dead set on free geek and I know nobody within the organization, it would be great to learn more first-hand info.
Thanks dude, see you on teh twitter.
Chris
http://www.twitter.com/bordy
Jrandom42
May 8th, 2007
at 11:04pm
There was something like this in Southern Oregon called Computers2Kids. In their 2 years of existence, they refurbished and gave away over 4,200 refurbished computer systems. Their reward? Twenty-seven tons of e-waste to recycle to the tune of over $10,000 and getting robbed of all their high end systems and parts that they had prepped for 3 different schools, They shut down when the community essentially turned their back on them. Just goes to show you that no good deed goes unpunished/