[sf-lug] Reminder: fundraiser tomorrow for Linux in schools tomorrow

[Christian Einfeldt]

Doh!  I forgot a link to the landing page for our fundraiser:

http://partimus.org/fundraising_event_2010.php

Thanks in advance for any interest that you might have in helping to get
Linux into poor public schools!

On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 12:48 PM, Christian Einfeldt <einfeldt at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> A number of volunteers for Partimus.org have been working very hard for free for 6.5 years now in various public schools around the Bay Area to place GNU-Linux machines in public schools.  We have established a good foundation, and we now want to build on that foundation.  The teachers appreciate Linux, are not afraid of it, and use it heavily for a wide variety of functions,
> including some mission-critical functions such as reporting grades and so forth, at least in some schools.  In some of the schools, Linux is the only platform to which the kids have access for reaching the Internet.
>
> All of this is a marvelous accomplishment, and we want to extend that achievement. But to do so, we are going to need to bring in funds.  We have been running entirely on volunteer fumes.  If we are going to expand, we will need to establish a financial foundation to build on the foundation of goodwill we have achieved and technical prowess that we have demonstrated.
>
> Toward that end, we are holding an initial fundraiser to build a fundraising committee on December 15, 2010, at 5 pm at 1601 Turk Street, at the Creative Arts Charter School, in the Board Room.  The purpose of this meeting is to create a group of dedicated volunteers who will focus on fundraising for our Linux-schools efforts.  We will be providing modest refreshments, and we
> will be asking for a suggested donation of $25.00 at the time of the 12/15/10 meeting to kick off our fundraising drive.
>
> Free open source software has created a lot of jobs and wealth, and now is a great time for us to expand our efforts to bring the considerable benefits of free software to those who really need it most, namely, public schools whose budgets have been mercilessly slashed for more than a decade.  Supporting education fits very well with the FOSS culture of expanding knowledge, transparency, and democracy.  Attending this fundraiser would be a great way for the members of this list to make a commitment to supporting our proven and very successful efforts to get FOSS ideals into the broader society.
>
> We will not be asking for too much of your time.  We will only be asking you to share your contacts will us, and help us do outreach to get your friends and neighbors to make small but meaningful financial contributions to our efforts.
>
> One of the specific goals of the 12/15/10 fundraiser will be to prepare for a larger fundraiser to be held in the spring at the Creative Arts Charter School.  That fundraiser will be a large installfest and FOSS festival.  We are planning to have booths for Bay Area FOSS-related groups, such as local LUGs and local FOSS-related businesses, both large and small.  We will have
> barbeques and games for kids.  It will be a fun, family-oriented event that will have the dual purpose of raising money and soliciting hardware donations, which will be triaged on the spot and we will install GNU-Linux on machines that are brought in, so that we can turn those machine right around and install them in the 6 Bay Area Schools where we have a FOSS presence.
>
> Also for the 12/15/10 event, we are asking people to bring working laptops, printers, monitors, keyboards, and optical mice towers to donate.  Our minimum spec for donation is 512 MB of RAM and at least 1.8 Ghz chips or the AMD equivalent.
>
>
>


-- 
Christian Einfeldt,
Producer, The Digital Tipping Point
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