Helping the Needy Get Nerdy in Michiana Since 2002
May 29, 2009
Free Geek Michiana is losing its donated warehouse space. Thus far, we have no reasonable prospects for a new home and must vacate our donated space by July 30, 2009. Our board/council voted to stop accepting new donations of computer equipment beginning Monday, June 1 -- the only exception is P4 or greater computers -- and to suspend the FreeBox program until we have a new home.
The FREE GEEK Michiana FreeBox program has run continuously since 2003. We have given hundreds of computer systems to low income families and to our volunteers. The FreeBox program is fundamental to FREE GEEK Michiana's mission so the program will restart once we secure suitable warehouse space.
Please contact us (see Contact Us below) if you know of someone willing to donate weather-tight storage. And visit us here for more announcements.
Tom Brown, Director
Free Geek Michiana, Inc.
FGM (Free Geek Michiana) lost its web server in a temperature spike over a year ago. The hard drive died and our backups failed, a double whammy. We are pleased to have a new server housed in a temperature and humidity controlled data center. Remote backups are performed daily.
Our old web site is partially recovered but way out of date. In particular, our operations are no longer at the Salvation Army church in South Bend. You can read our old site at our recovered web site. We are converting the site to the Joomla content management platform and bringing it up to date.
Many thanks to Free Geek Portland, "The Mothership", whose staff provided us with a page on their public Wiki for months and months.
You probably have questions so let's get to it.
FREE GEEK MICHIANA is a South Bend, Indiana, based non-profit organization that recycles used technology and provides computers, education and access to the Internet to those in need in exchange for a few hours of community service.
FreeBox - (temporarily suspended)
Since FREE GEEK Michiana is losing its donated warehouse space, the FreeBox program is suspended until we can find new space.
FREE GEEK Michiana receives donated used computers, refurbishes them and makes them available to low income families and individuals in exchange for community service. The computer systems we create (FreeBoxes) are loaded with a GNU/Linux operating system and Free and Open Source (FOSS) application programs: word processors, email clients, web browsers, file managers, etc.Our volunteers receive computer systems, components and peripherals in exchange for their help. FREE GEEK Michiana conducts FreeBox classes where we distribute computer systems to low income individuals and families. The recipients take a 3-hour class, pass a hands-on test and take a FreeBox system home.
FreeLab
FREE GEEK Michiana is developing a community technology center (lab) utilizing refurbished computers.
Community volunteers will teach classes in beginning, intermediate and advanced computer
subjects. People can use our lab in exchange for volunteer time or a cash donation.
FreeLan and Nerds4Nonprofits
FREE GEEK Michiana will offer computers, local area network installation and maintenance, software,
custom programming and support nonprofit organizations. Volunteers will handle the lower level tech
support and paid staff or contractors deliver advanced support services.
FreeWire
FREE GEEK Michiana sees the necessity of community-owned and controlled networks. Every neighborhood
should have easy and inexpensive access to a community network and the Internet. FREE GEEK Michiana
envisions wireless neighborhood networks fanning out from our neighborhood FreeLabs. FreeWire will
be the last program FGM institutes as it is dependent on the successful implementation of the
FreeBox, FreeLab and FreeLan programs.
Volunteer. We need help at the Free Geek Michiana Linux Users Group. When we find a home for our comuter lab, we will need help supervising and teaching in the lab.
Donate money. Ask us about our plans and our material needs. Donate cash along with your hardware donation. See our list of suggested donations.
Contact us. Call 574-298-2706 and ask for Tom Brown, our director. This is Tom's personal mobile phone so he won't respond as "Free Geek Michiana" but as himself. Email Tom at director@freegeekmichiana.org.
Page last updated: Sat Jan 31 15:35:40 EST 2009