Hello JS, Thanks for volunteering. It seems you misunderstand NextStep¹s mission. Here is some info for you.
We have an education program that involves learning about technology and how to use it. Some folks spend time dismantling and then move into refurbishing. Some start in refurbishing and move to the store. Some start by doing collection events and then move to admin. Some stay on, volunteering every week we have some folks that have been volunteering for 5 years! The goal of NextStep is exposure to real live job skills. We offer this service to community members 14 years old to 100 years old. Our youngest volunteers could be from a public school, a special education life skill class, a Girl Scout, or attend a home school. Our oldest volunteer is Norman, who at age 96, comes every day 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM 5 days a week. The majority of our volunteers have never had access to technology and NextStep is their first chance to ³see what¹s inside the box², to have the box demystified, and to have a tool to use to connect them to the wide world. We don¹t gift fancy machines because: 1. We don¹t have the stock to do so. We sell the fanciest boxes in our store so we can continue to keep our doors open 2. Most volunteers have never used a computer, so supplying them with ³a screaming fast machine² is not in their best interest. If you want to buy one of the machines from eBay, there is nothing stopping you from doing so. We do not use LINUX as there is no support in our community for these first time users. This is not Portland. The recipients of technology grants, (whether they come in through our volunteer training program or from social service workers and teachers in our direct gifting program, or from our national and international placements program) generally have never used a computer, or, have had very limited access. They want to learn, at their own pace, how to access their unemployment claims, how to email their doctors, how to apply for social security benefits, how to connect with family members in IRAQ and Afganistan, get their school papers done, maybe start a home business so they can be home with their kids. They want to be able to take a class at the public library, at our senior centers, at LCC and U of O adult Ed classes that help them manevuer in the computer environment. LINUX is not taught in these venues. We looked into having classes at NextStep (we even had an experienced instructor volunteer to lead the classes, thanks Steve!) but, our insurance underwriter would not permit it. So, if we supply a tool to community members to empower them and connect them, we are going to go with the operating system that is covered in free or low cost classes in our community. Unfortanately, your reference to our new electronics recycling law won¹t change for a good while. It took 5 years to get this one in place. Unfortantely for NextStep, it has removed the one bit of social responsibility from the recycling chain we counted on. Have you met our Board members? They are a hard working group. They have our backs. No matter what comes at us. We feel very comfortable gifting Macs because there is a strong Macs users group here that generally has 30+ in attendance. They never shy away from an OS X question! There are also low cost Mac classes at LCC. I don¹t know if this info helps you understand our program any better, but, I hope so. I looked into your concern that you didn¹t get your computer in a timely fashion. It is true, you did not. Our volunteer who donates 45 hours a week to run our technology grant program was not in the building when you requested your computer, she was at the emergency room with her mom. I am sorry we were not able to assist you at that time. Things are back on schedule, so, please don¹t hesitate to call tomorrow when we open. Respectfully, lorraine From: JS Kaplan <[email protected]> Reply-To: Eugene Unix and Gnu/Linux User Group <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:20:01 -0800 To: <[email protected]> Subject: [Eug-lug] inside NextStep When I first happened upon NextStep Recycling on 10th near Garfield, I thought it was a helluva an idea. Hearkened me back to the days of Stan's PC Training where used good PC's were to be had for all. I've even bought a microwave oven and a wifi card there. However, after volunteering there I've changed my tune considerably. I won't go as far as to say that the largess of the establishment cancels out any reduction in carbon benefit. I'm just not that savvy, but I have my opinions. So, first off, to get a "volunteer box" you need to put in now 40 hours (Figure around minimum wage your wholesale net worth is about $300 for argument's sake). Secondly, what you'll receive is a Dell Optiplex GX50. Which is a single board non-upgradeable celeron based POS around 1200 MHz with 384 MB or less ram and a 20 GB drive. You'll also likely not recieive your "gift" for volunteering until several weeks after you're done. I'm not sure if this is to discourage you taking inventory or to encourage more hours out of you. Probably both. Why am I complaining? Well, they have pallets and pallets of these little gomers, which can be had on e-bay for as little as $7.99. $40 if you want it tomorrow. Instead of offering a choice or being progressive and loading Ubuntu or some nice current distro, you are stuck to the task of un-infecting the drive of it's case of Windows 2000. (The P4 1.8's littering the place seem to be ending up in Guatemalen schools. You can purchase a P4 2.6 system for around $175 there). I'm complaining because I feel that my hours of labor are worth a tad bit more than a doorstop in which a full-sized PCI card won't fit and an AGP slot doesn't exist. I'm complaining because I feel that no matter what the cost, even free, a Microsoft license is a Microsoft license and a non-profit has no business purchasing Microsoft licenses when Open Source exists. When Ubuntu exists. If Ubuntu is good enough for IBM, it's good enough for every American. I'm complaining because I feel the politics inside NextStep are about to swallow itself whole and barf it back out. It looks like a Eugenian Social Experiment, complete with a dot alt Board of Directors. It's become really large inside and while still providing valuable services to the community, most of thosse services should be borne by the consumer purchasing home electronics. California now has a tax on electronic goods, in effect a deposit law. Recycle electronics, net a bonus. Toss them in the landfill, lose the bonus. Yet here in Oregon we still can't control our Bottle Bill and recycle Coca-Cola Brand Water Bottles. I'm complaining because I feel NextStep should be using Linux in every task from Office to Refurbishing. I'm complaining because I hate to see people thumping their chests in the Weekly. *Usually* if the Weekly has an overly positive take on something, it's called damage control or a pre-emptive Media Strike. Now, don't go away just yet. Just because I've had a bad experience with them doesn't mean you will too. After all, you can still give 40 hours and opt for an iMac. James S. Kaplan [email protected] currently under-employed "Sic Semper Tyrannis" Marcus Junius Brutus, March 15, 44 BC John Wilkes Booth, April 14, 1865 AD Windows Live: E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect. Check it out. <http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_allup_explore_022009> _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
