[ale] First meeting of the new UUCA Computers for the Community volunteer group next Mon Feb 25 at UUCA at 7 pm

[Daniel Howard]

Dear Team,

I wanted to remind you all that our first meeting is next Monday at 7 pm 
at UUCA, and to give you a quick update.  The response to my call was 
fantastic: Over 30 UUCA folk responded with interest in either 
volunteering or in donating PCs, and many with interest in both.  Three 
of you even have Linux experience!  And thanks to one UUCA member, we've 
already identified a potential partner who could help us get hundreds of 
donated PCs on a regular basis.  So we'll need all of you, and in fact I 
hope to discuss at the meeting how we might get other UUCA groups 
involved, such as the high and middle school youth groups.

Along those lines, there's lots of initial decisions for the group to 
make at this first meeting, for example:
1.  Mission of the team/how it helps the environment/how it fits within
UUCA goals/principles
2.  What is involved for volunteers
3.  What resources from UUCA are needed
4.  Potential partnerships with other UUCA or community groups
5.  What are the best days/times to have the refurb meetings
6.  Where to store PCs in between Refurb Meetings
7.  How to get the message out to local businesses and individuals
8.  What groups to target as recipients of our donated PCs
9.  How the group should be managed

Not that we have to do all of them the first nite, and some will likely 
evolve over time, but I'm hoping to get an initial plan for the group to 
at least the point where we can start seriously soliciting donated PCs.

I've copied Chance Hunter (our UUCA mentor for the group) and Anthony 
David to also remind them of some logistical needs for next Monday's 
meeting:
1) I would like to demo the software, so we'll need a projector and an 
Internet connection for the meeting room.
2) a room on a weeknight or Saturday with power and Internet 
connectivity to download the software and test the refurbed PCs.

I've also copied some of my colleagues in the Atlanta Linux community in 
case any of them can come to answer any questions about Linux or Open 
Source Software that any of you might have.

I can't tell you all how excited I am in this program.  It has the 
potential to significantly impact both individual lives as well as 
schools and education in Atlanta in general.  I'm convinced we're going 
to do great things, and when you see the faces and joyful tears of the 
recipients as I have, you know you're doing something important.

If you have any thoughts about the above prior to Monday's meeting at 7 
pm, feel free to email me, especially if you have a topic to be added to 
the agenda.  I'm thinking we'll try to get the main discussion done in 
the first hour and I'll demo the software and perhaps even do an install 
in the second hour.  I'll have handouts for everyone as well as CDs 
containing the Open Source Software so you can all try it out at home as 
well.

Thanks to all of you for helping a great cause,
Daniel

-- 
Daniel Howard
President and CEO
Georgia Open Source Education Foundation
- and -
New UUCA Member