| News Archives Announcement:
Everyone had fun at the Denver Fair. The
weather was great, nice sunny days. We
met a lot of nice people.
A raffle was set up in the
Business Center Tent, and we were able to restore a Gateway computer
to it's original state with the software included. It was a 2.4 GHZ
hyper threading processor, 256 MB of 333 DDR memory, an eighty GIG
hard drive, a Flat Screen Monitor with speakers, keyboard and mouse.
 
We had the drawing Oct. first at
5:00. The ticket was pulled by Mike an IU 13 graduate. The winner is
Debbie Kundrod of Denver.
 
Thank you to all the people that
have been giving us denotations, either monetary, equipment or hands
on help. Please continue to help us grow.
   
Saint
Mary's, it was very
gracious of you to help us out during your summer
vacation.
Tsu is the man that puts Linux on computers and straightens out some
of the mess the rest of us make.
Tsu has the same problem as Geoff and has had to take a full time
job. He feels when things get to the point we can get paid he will
return.
We wish them both the best.
For those of you that don't get to read
the Lebanon Daily News, attached is the article written by Sandi
Lynn Brown
Nothing nerdy about job performed
by 'geeks'
Nonprofit business loves
refurbishing old computers, donating them to the needy
Nonprofit business loves refurbishing old computers, donating
them to the needy By SANDI LYNN BROWN
Staff Writer
EPHRATA It was a snow day for 15-year-old Ryan Shirk. But
instead of building a snowman or sledding down steep hills,
Shirk decided to tear apart old computers.
While his parents might not appreciate this sort of behavior
in their Terre Hill, Lancaster County, home, Free Geek Penn
welcomes this form of destruction.
"At home, I like doing this kind of stuff, so this is just on
a bigger scale," said Shirk, a student at Garden Spot High
School in New Holland.
Free Geek Penn is a nonprofit organization that recycles used
technology involving a mother board, such as computers, VCRs and
printers, said Linda Devlin, a full-time volunteer. Rebuilt
computers are then donated to schools and charities.
Ray Norman started the concept of Free Geek Penn in his
garage in August 2003. It was based on Free Geek, a nonprofit
business in Oregon. The operation was eventually moved to a
4,840-square-foot facility at the Ephrata Business Center, 400
W. Main St.
Donated computers that can be refurbished are repaired.
People contributing computers to the cause should not worry
about data left on the hard drive, Devlin said. The first step
in the operation is to run a program called "kill disk" that
wipes out all the information, she said.
However, most of the computer ends up in pieces.
Mother boards are boxed up and shipped to a Philadelphia
business, where they are melted down and reused. The steel from
the computers is sold to Ephrata Recycling. And obsolete
monitors are disposed of properly and kept out of the landfill.
One monitor has the potential to contaminate 144 acres of land
because of lead found inside monitors, Free Geek officials said.
"The most important part is the recycling," Devlin said.
"This is more than an idea. It is saving the future.
"Every time someone drops one off, they're a part of that,"
she added.
Currently, Free Geek Penn is run by five full-time employees
and volunteers who come and go. The youngest helper so far has
been a 5-year-old who came with his grandfather.
After 40 hours of volunteering to disassemble old, worn-out
computers, volunteers receive a free used computer with a
monitor, keyboard and mouse. Each computer contains a capacity
of at least 500 megahertz.
Computers that can be saved are donated to area schools. Two
months ago, the Cornwall-Lebanon School District received 10
used Dell computers from Free Geek Penn. Older and slower
computers were shipped to Africa to be used by schoolchildren
there.
As a side job, the "geeks" will repair computers in exchange
for a donation or volunteer time.
The nonprofit business has found a company to buy or take all
materials except one: plastic.
"We can't afford to pay for them to take it, and nobody seems
to want it," Devlin said. "It takes up space we could be using
for something else."
Unless it is crushed which is not in Free Geek's budget
plastic parts are not a wanted commodity. So for now, enormous
boxes of plastic parts are stored in a warehouse of equipment
waiting to be recycled.
Free Geek Penn could also use more computers and other
technology, and monetary donations are always welcomed. Although
a nonprofit, there are still expenses to pay, such as rent and
electricity, Devlin noted.
David friend and shark for Free Geek
Penn, has been blessed with a son Clay November 17th.
This is the first born by any of our
volunteers, since we have been in business.
 
OCT 29:
Barry Gentile, a resident of Ephrata, PA, has
been preparing to leave his family, his wife Kim, Josh his
11-year-old son, his daughters Juliana 8,and Jillian 5.He will be
leaving for Afghanistan as a member of the military and staying for
a year away from his family.
We as a technology organization were able to
supply his wife with a computer here and Barry bought a laptop to
take with him. Our part was to supply both computers with the
technology to be set up with video and sound so they can see each
other while he is gone. Barry and our technician, Tsu, worked
together to get everything ready before he left.
Free Geek Penn is proud to be able to help
Barry see his family and relieve some of the pressure of being away
from them. The military is there to protect lives. It is the least
we can do to help. We were glad to supply that help with no cost to
him or his family. The quality time he will be sharing with his
family gives us all the payment we need.
To add a little more human interest to this
story, Barry’s grandfather was in the 25th infantry at
Pearl Harbor. Barry has his grandfather’s uniform patch, but was
unable to wear it himself, because he wasn’t a member of the 25th
infantry. When he goes to Afghanistan he will be in the 25th
division and will be able to sew it on his uniform. The design of
this patch has not changed in 50 years.
Barry has had two good experiences since he
started his journey. We hope and pray the rest of his adventure will
be the same.
If you would like to e-mail Barry his address
is:
barrygentile@us.army.mil.
OCT 25:
We have been entered for the governor's
award
Free Geek Penn is a
non-profit organization, started as an individuals' project (Raymond
Norman) in August 2003 and incorporated as Free Geek Penn in May of
2004. From the beginning this one of a kind organization on the East
Coast has responsibly recycled used computers and provided computers
and education to those in need. It is requested that each recipient
(or benefactor) exchange 40 hours of volunteer time for the computer
and training. The two-fold objective of the organization is to stop
the hazardous e-waste from going illegally to landfills and to
perform a civic benefit; a small but effective movement that
contributes to providing computer technology for Pennsylvanians from
senior citizen to child, who otherwise would have been left behind.
Computers contain high levels of eight leachable chemicals
detrimental to health and
environment. Lead, mercury, cadmium, phosphorus, PCB's and iron,
with chromium & barium that specifically affect the heart, spleen &
cause brain swelling. One computer can contaminate 20 acres of
wetland. In a stream environment it would kill 27acres of fishing
area. In the United States alone, 20 million or more PC's become
obsolete each year (315 million by 2004). As much as 80% of the PC's
and other e-waste collected for recycling in the U.S. happens to end
up in Asia - where it is unsafely disposed. Some of the older
desktop monitors carry up to eight pounds of lead, the newer ones
carry an average of six pounds. In the seven months Free Geek Penn has been
incorporated it has responsibly recycled over 650 monitors.
That would be
between 5400 and 5200 pounds of lead alone in slightly over half a
year! Currently Free Geek Penn is warehousing about 3200 pounds of
plastic (and
will continue to do so) until it can be delivered for recycling.
Although we do have an outlet, for the sale of the plastic, a
shredder or bailer is needed to 'package' the plastic in a form
acceptable for delivery. All the monitors, speakers, mouse units,
keyboard's and computers brought to Free Geek Penn are properly
recycled. Recyclable components contain the contaminates listed
above as well as gold & batteries. The sales of the components of these
donated items to wholesalers make up the bulk of the incoming funds
to maintain this non-profit organization. Re-furbished computers &
components sold on e-bay and tax deductible donations make up the
balance of the operating revenue.
Many of the
computers given to people are their first computer and the
technicians also train them on the Open Source Software, such as
Linux programs. Other volunteers come from all walks of life and age
ranges. A number of volunteers are dismantling the e-waste for
environmental reasons as opposed to working for a free computer.
Groups representing workplace, places of worship & civic
organizations as well as family units also come to dismantle. Many
area school-aged children are spending free time at Free Geek Penn
after school and on Saturdays. There was a significant increase in
youngsters over the summer. Parents would come in to express their
gratification for a place where the kids were safe and doing
something constructive (also the kids like volunteering f).
Home-schoolers' have incorporated some of the volunteer time
dismantling computers into their children's curriculum. There have
been over 90 people registered who have come in to volunteer since
the warehouse has opened its doors. In the seven months that Free
Geek Penn has moved from Mr. Norman's backyard to the warehouse in
Ephrata, it has given over 225 computers (with monitors & keyboards)
away. For the ten months prior to that, before Free Geek Penn filed
its corporation papers, Mr. Norman did not keep records as to how
many he gave away. Several Pennsylvania based mission organizations
have taken advantage of the program to ship over 75 computers to
Third World Countries. The Blind Association of Lancaster,
Susquehanna Association for the Blind, AARP of Chambersburg and
Lancaster County IU13 are a few of the Pennsylvania organizations
that have also been recipients of free computer set ups when state
funding was not available.
It is a constant
endeavor to promote public awareness of our organization. The
Lancaster papers have run several articles and volunteers have made
numerous visits and phone calls to schools and businesses. This last
month has shown an increase of incoming e-waste and volunteers as a
result of intense public relations work done in August and
September. It is our the hope that being a recipient of the
Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence will promote awareness
to Pennsylvania's residence and business of Free Geek Penn as an
outlet of responsible e- waste recycling. The prestige and publicity
of the award will generate an increase of public consciousness and
thus an increase of properly recycled computers and components in
our state as well as helping those economically strained obtain a
home computer otherwise unobtainable. Many of the computers given to
people are their first computer and the technicians also train them
on the Open Source Software, such as Linux programs. Other
volunteers come from all walks of life and age ranges. A number of
volunteers are dismantling the e-waste for environmental reasons as
opposed to working for a free computer. Groups representing
workplace, places of worship & civic organizations as well as family
units also come to dismantle. Many area school-aged children are
spending free time at Free Geek Penn after school and on Saturdays.
There was a significant increase in youngsters over the summer.
Parents would come in to express their gratification for a place
where the kids were safe and doing something constructive (also the
kids like volunteering f). Home-schoolers' have incorporated some of
the volunteer time dismantling computers into their children's
curriculum. There have been over 90 people registered who have come
in to volunteer since the warehouse has opened its doors. In the
seven months that Free Geek Penn has moved from Mr. Norman's
backyard to the warehouse in Ephrata, it has given over 225
computers (with monitors & keyboards) away. For the ten months prior
to that, before Free Geek Penn filed its corporation papers, Mr.
Norman did not keep records as to how many he gave away. Several
Pennsylvania based mission organizations have taken advantage of the
program to ship over 75 computers to Third World Countries. The
Blind Association of Lancaster, Susquehanna Association for the
Blind, AARP of Chambersburg and Lancaster County IU13 are a few of
the Pennsylvania organizations that have also been recipients of
free computer set ups when state funding was not available.
Oct 20:
We had an interview with Fox 43 today. It
will be shown tonight after the Red Sox's Baseball game. The
11:30 News. If interested please watch.
Sept 15:
We were in the Ephrata Review.
Sept 10:
Our fearless leader Ray Norman just came
back from a driving trip to Free Geek in Oregon. He has come back to
us with lots of good ideas to make Free Geek Penn a better place.
August 31:
Not much to report. We have had a
shortage of computers, so if anyone has anything for us we need you
to bring them to us. Thank you.
August 12:
We gave 35 computers to the University of Cocody in Abidjan
Cote d'Ivoire West Africa through contact person Forum President,
Dr. Marc Pape.
Shola Clinic of Paynesville, Monrovia, Libera Africa returned
to get ten monitors for the computers they received last month.
August 3:
We gave computers to Susquehanna Association for the Blind and
vision impaired 244 North Duke Street, Lancaster, PA.
July 25:
We all went to a potluck picnic at
Eagle's Park Pavilion in Reading PA.
  
We had an interesting experience meeting new and
interesting people and eating a lot of good food. There were people
from the Sierra Club, NAACP, Republican party, Democratic party,
Green party and we eat food supplied by It's a Soy of Reading.
Several speeches were made and we were not left out. Our own Annette
made a speech trying to inform the Reading area as to the need for
recycling computers. Although there was a small turn out we do think
we informed some key people we need to have their computers to
recycle. Even if we didn't we made quite an impression all decked
out in our new Free Geek tee shirts.
A very special thanks goes out from us to Denver Cold Storage
located at 400 West Main Street.
Here
is a picture of Africa so you can follow along with where our
computers are headed.
 Click
on any picture to make it larger
July 14:
Mary and her sister Mo came to us for a clinic they were
instrumental in starting in Africa.
The name of the clinic is Shoca located in Paynesville, Monrovia,
Liberia, Africa. The clinic will be there to help 5,000 Africans
receive medical care. The name was derived from the first two
letters of:
Sharing
Loving
Caring
The clinic will be operating under World-Wide missions of
Liberia. Sponsored by: Foreign Mission of Grater Shiloh, Easton, PA.
July 10:
We received our first thanks through Christian Missions.
It made us all happy to see all the children we are helping.
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