Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Help a Needy Child get a Linux Powered Computer just by Clicking Your Mouse

Today I would like to take a moment to talk an organization that I believe performs a fantastic service to it's community:

The Helios Initiative
The slogan of this group is something I believe in:

"A Child's Exposure to Technology Should Never Be Predicated On The Ability To Afford It"

The Helios Initiative is a not for profit organization, based out of Austin Texas, that restores old, donated computers and gives them free of charge to those that are in need of them. Instead of using costly, restrictive, proprietary software to restore these computers the Helios Initiative uses free open source software.

The donated computers are powered by a Linux based operating system and the latest open source educational software. Technology is essentially in this day and age for a child to be able to exceed at school - I can say with 100% certainty that I would not be the person I am today without the access to computers I had from an early age. I was lucky enough to be raised in a family that could afford such technologies - not every child is so lucky.

Now - to the point of this post. The Helios Initiative has been nominated for an event called "Rock a Charity". Essentially this could be an easy way for the Helios Initiative to earn some extra funding with just a little bit of help from the rest of us. Here is how it works:

"Non profit contestants will have their Facebook page monitored for "like" clicks for a 48 hour period beginning on February 1st at 9 AM CST. At the end of that 48 hour period, the top three charities with the most likes will then be invited to a party on the 18th of February. Any clicks prior to or after this 48 hour window will not count. The contest ends at 9 AM CST on Thursday, February 3rd."

All you have to do is click the Helios Initiative like button on the right side of my page here at any time during that 48 hour period to help out (please note I am posting this at 7am CST). Please spread this to your other facebook friends and via twitter - lets make sure they end up in the top three charities for this contest. It could be the difference between a child having to be embarrassed when they don't know how to use a computer at school and them confidently during in a paper typed in Libre Office.

If you want to be a little bit more active in your support of the Helios Initiative see here.

Many Thanks!
~Jeff Hoogland

15 comments:

  1. Just to provide a bit of clarification - you can click the "Like" button for the HeliOS Project right here on Jeff's blog...on the right side of this page!

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  2. Great post. I think kids should be issued computers in 3rd or 4th grade for doing school work on.

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  3. too bad you force people to use facebook for this event. I really like the Helios project but I hate Facebook. I tried to vote for Helios but you have to register for Facebook to do so. Sorry, I will not be able to participate.

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  4. This is really awesome! Its also awesome that they put Linux on the computers! I will make sure to like this!

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  5. @Tom King Ditto absolutely! I too will never use Facebook

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  6. Same here with no use for facebook, but I like the idea of Helios, so I'll figure out another way to support them.

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  7. Same here--I love the Helios project, but Facebook can go to the bit-bucket. Will find another way to support them.

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  8. Wow, what a great idea but you do know Facebook uses the like button to track non-Facebook users. I am really sorry but I must decline for the sake of my privacy. =(

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  9. Another vote against Facebook. I'm already familiar with and supportive of Helios' great work. But there's no way I'm signing up for Facebook. Not now, not ever, no matter how great the cause. Sorry. Maybe he can convince them to find a better way to run their contests.

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  10. Sorry, but I, like lots of SMART people, will NEVER sign up for facebook. I can't STAND that crap, and while I do believe in Helios and what he's doing, I will NOT be signing up for facebook now, OR EVER. Sorry.

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  11. Can we click on a "don't use Facebook" icon and send it to Rock a Charity. This is a good idea on the part of Rock a CHarity, but a poor implementation, unless they do only want high school kids responding.

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  12. You guys could just set-up an empty FaceBook account using a throw-away email address and name if you hate FaceBook but want to support the HeliOS Project.

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  13. I understand the hate of facebook - but it is hardly just highschool kids that use it (in fact it was setup as a college networking website to start).

    My mother actually teaches seniors and adults how to use facebook

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  14. We were not exactly thrilled with this arrangement ourselves but it was what it was. With discretionary funding getting harder and harder to find, we decided to do this. Thanks to everyone who got us in the door. While I really am not supposed to disclose the numbers until the hosting entity does, we dominated the votes...coming in with more than 500 votes than the second place team.

    My personal and sincere thanks to Jeff for helping us over the top.

    Ken

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