GENTRY — With computers now playing a big part in every child’s education, the Gentry Lion’s Club is launching a new service project to help provide computers to families of school age children who otherwise would not be able afford them.
The club is accepting donations of used computers to be recycled into usable computers for school children. The hard drives will be reformatted, erasing all existing data files, and a new operating system and programs will be installed.
“Many older computers which may run slow or not work at all using the newer Windows operating systems can be very useful computers with a number of open-source Linux operating systems and Linux-based programs,” said Lions Club member Randy Moll. “Our plan is to try and get these computers rejuvenated and into the hands of students so they can do research work on the Web and write papers and do other homework assignments which require the use of a computer.”
The club will be accepting used computers on an as needed basis and delivering them to student families,in cooperation with local school teachers and principals. The club is urging those who upgrade to a newer computer system to consider making their old system available to others who may need a computer through the Lions Club project.
“Rather than throwing away a working computer after upgrading to a new one, why not donate it and help a student who cannot afford one?” Moll said. “Computers which came with operating systems as old as Windows 98 or Mac OS9 can be used,” Moll said. “Of course, the newer the machine, the more it can be set up to do for students.”
To be donated, computers, monitors, laptops and other accessories must still be in working condition (or in some cases useful for parts).
For more information about the Lions Club project or to make a computer available for a student, call Randy Moll at 233-0081 or send him an e-mail at mollfoto@ yahoo.com.
News, Pages 2 on 10/20/2010