Why I can’t Give Away Enough Computers!

In 2012 I started giving away laptops computers to poor, mostly inner city, high school students who in spite daunting odds had excelled in their studies, participated in meaningful community organizations, and been accepted to a 4-year university or college.

Most were familiar with the sound of gunshots, many had been to the funerals of murdered friends, they saw way too many of their peers drop out of school, succumb to drug and alcohol addiction — and they knew what it is like to not always have a roof over your head, to go hungry; yet, here they were with 4.0 grade point averages on their way to San Francisco State, UC Berkeley, Morehead or Stanford with a cardboard box of clothes and hearts full of dreams.

Most of them had scholarships or financial aid and more importantly the willpower or audacity to succeed no matter what, and all of them it turned out were the first in their families to ever go to college.

The one thing none of them had was a computer — and having your own computer is a vital necessity for college students who otherwise have to borrow a friend’s laptop or use one of the computers in the library on the other side of campus.

Not having a computer is like going to war without a weapon.

At first I thought it would be difficult to find the candidates I wanted, but it wasn’t. Hooking up with my community organizer friend Bruce Bouligny, we approached high school counselors and nonprofit groups who introduced us to incredibly accomplished students they felt were qualified for our prize. The first year we had 45 applicants — the most recent year, over 1,000.

Reading all the applications with accompanying essays has been heartwarming as well as awe-inspiring. The hardest part has been picking the winners — there are so many who are deserving.

So far, though my nonprofit Andrew Fluegelman Foundation, I’ve given away over 50 top-of-the-line Apple MacPro laptops loaded with extra memory and software; and I’ve arranged for computer skill learning seminars and visits to tech companies like Google and Twitter.

The feedback I get from “my” students — and I get a lot of feedback — is that the computers make a huge difference. And most satisfying, all are doing well, they are meeting their lofty goals of becoming heart surgeons, astronomers, architects, teachers, social workers, engineers and entrepreneurs. Most express a desire to go back to their communities to help build a better tomorrow.

I don’t mind sharing that this is the single most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life and I would sure like to give away more computers — a lot more, but my funds and the funds of my foundation are limited.

To hopefully solve this problem, for the first time this year I’m organizing a major fundraising event — believe it or not, a “Holiday Reggae Party” with live music and tons of Jamaican food at Oakland’s famed Kingston 11 restaurant. It’s coming up fast — Sunday, December 6 at 6 p.m.

If you like to come this fund event or just help us out with a small donation, you can do so by clicking on this link: reggaeparty.brownpapertickets.com

My goal is to give away 50 laptops this coming spring and eventually a 100 or more on an annual basis.

If you don’t think this is worthwhile, remember Maimonides’ quote:

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day;
teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Note: The Andrew Fluegelman Foundation was named after my friend, Andrew Fluegelman, who was a pioneer in the computer publishing and software industries. You can learn more about Andrew and the 501c nonprofit foundation at our facebook page: facebook.com/andrewfluegelman