[sf-lug] Linux in schools: working demo day

[Christian Einfeldt]

Hi,

Some of the volunteers for our Partimus.org Linux schools project will be
working at the Mission Beacon after-school program this Wednesday, July 21,
at 2:00 pm.  If you would like to see how GNU-Linux is being used in this
setting, and would maybe even like to consider participating in our broader
project, please feel free to stop by the Everett Middle School at 2:00 pm.
This will be a working demo, and we do have an agenda to do work, and so
most of us will be busy tweaking machines, but those of us with less hard
technical skills (me) will also be doing outreach to new volunteers at that
time.  There is plenty of free parking if you enter the parking lot from
17th Street between Sanchez and Church Streets.

http://portal.sfusd.edu/template/default.cfm?page=ms.everett

We are trying to entice volunteers into adopting a school, or supporting
someone who is adopting a school.  You can define your own level of
participation.  Our volunteers are really very highly effective.  We are
making real, concrete, measurable differences in the lives of the kids and
teachers that we are supporting.  Plus, we are gradually spreading the
message of the benefits of sharing forkable code.  The kids and teachers
take a while to "get" the importance of Free as in Free Speech aspect of
Free Software, but it does grown on them one little step at a time, as they
use the machines.

Our volunteers are now doing work in 6 SF Bay Area schools, and probably
soon going to be adding a seventh.  The schools thus far are:

   1. The KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy at Geary and Scott in SF;
   2. The Creative Arts Charter School at Pierce and Turk in SF;
   3. The International Studies Academy at 18th and DeHaro in SF;
   4. The Mission Beacon Center at Church and 16th Street in SF;
   5. The Precita Beacon Center on Potrero Hill in SF;
   6. The Ascend School on East 12th and 38th in Oakland;

If you live near one of these schools, and would like to help support it, we
would love to talk with you about what you can do to help the schools
directly.  I can tell you from my own personal experience that it is really
a wonderful thing to walk around your own neighborhood and be greeted by
kids who recognize you and smile at you and thank you for the work that you
have done for them.  The kids do understand the benefits that they are
getting, and they do express their gratitude.  We are introducing hundreds
of kids each year to the benefits of Free Software.  It is very rewarding.
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