Volunteer Opportunity in Savannah

[Brian Pitts]

Justin E. Miller wrote:
> In a similar light, my church has a program called Computers at First. Right now they're just doing classes, but I spoke with the director of the ministry to start something similar to take old systems, refurbish them, and send them out to the needy in the community with UbuntuCE on them (It is a christian church after all.). Nothing's come of it yet, but it would be nice to see how other groups around the state are doing this as well.
> 

Here are the groups doing something similar in Atlanta that I'm aware of.

#  UUCA Computers for the Community - Started by Daniel Howard. Operates
out of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta. Focus is
refurbishing donated computers and loading FLOSS. I am not certain if
this group is active since I'm on their mailing list but never get any
messages.

# Computers for Youth <http://www.cfy.org/atlanta.php> - Local branch of
a national nonprofit. Computers come from corporate donors. Partners
with public schools to provide 6th graders with a free computer,
educational software, reduced cost internet access, training, and
technical support. I believe this group replaced Tech Corps Georgia.

# Computerz for Kidz <http://regencycog.com/cfk.aspx> - Program of
Regency Churce of God in Buford; "this is a non-profit Christian
organization looking for donations of new, used, or non working computer
to refurbish and place in homes of children who can't afford a
computer." I have emailed this group to find out if they're active.

# ReBoot <http://www.gatfl.org/reboot/default.htm> - "a nonprofit,
statewide, collaborative effort of many groups and organizations
committed to recycling computers for people with disabilities... ReBoot
acquires the equipment, evaluates it, repairs it (if needed), loads
licensed software, distributes the equipment to people with
disabilities, and trains the person on the equipment. Any items we
cannot use we will scrap & the money raised will go directly into
helping us serve more people. We have 6 ReBoot Training Centers located
around the state. We are operated 85% by dedicated volunteers - by
people with disabilities, for people with disabilities." I have been in
contact with them before and know they're active.

# Tech-Able <http://www.techable.org/Get%20a%20Computer.htm> - Their
FreshStart program provides refurbished computers and training to
"persons with disabilities (PDW), their immediate family members (when
PWD is under 18 years), Senior Citizen (55yrs+), and/or individuals with
household incomes under $40,000." I have emailed this group to find out
their level of activity.

Outside of Atlanta, I only know about the Savannah program and, of
course, Free IT Athens <http://freeitathens.org>. For those of you who
aren't familiar with Free IT Athens, we're a group of like-minded
citizens who realize that computers are a necessary component of
everyday life. We believe that everyone deserves access to low-cost
computer equipment and computer-related services. Our goal is to provide
access to information technology resources to Athens-Clarke County
residents and organizations. We also aim to create well informed
advocates in free software and open information technology. Most of our
activity centers around refurbishing donated computers, installing
Ubuntu, selling or giving the computers to individuals or nonprofits,
and providing training and support to the computer recipients. We're
always looking for donations and volunteers.

If you know of more groups in Atlanta or other parts of GA doing
computer refurbishing or providing no-cost support for free and open
source software, please let me know.

All the best,
Brian Pitts