7th Generation Blog Site

We have good news to report with our Computer Donations Program. We will be placing refurbished computers and supporting electronics in schools in need serving Native Americans. In April, we received 20 desktop computers with monitors from the Cristina Foundation in April and donated them to the Loneman Day School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in Oglala, South Dakota. The Loneman Day School serves students from kindergarten through the 9^th grade. The Pine Ridge Reservation is home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe and is situated in southwestern South Dakota on the Nebraska state line. It includes over 11,000 square miles with diverse geographic regions which include wide open grassy plains, rolling pine covered hills and barren badlands. It is also one of the poorest Indian reservations in the United States. The unemployment rate is estimated at 80% and the school drop-out rate is over 70%. The schools on the reservation are in the bottom of school funding by the U.S. Department of Education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These are some of the compelling reasons that 7^th Generation chose to work with the Loneman School in upgrading their student computer lab. James Rallo, UMI’s Network Administrator, delivered the equipment to the school at the end of May and met with their Information Technology Administrator to ensure a smooth transition and set-up. James also conducted a Needs Assessment of the schools information technology and determined that they are in need of new networking equipment. That need will come before the 7^th Gen board at our next meeting. We are truly honored that we were able to make a contribution to the effort to better prepare their students for the technology-based challenges of today’s world.

More good news. Kim L., our Veterinary Technology scholarship student finished the Spring and Summer semesters of the second year of the program. She states that the time has gone by very fast!

And remember, you too can help 7^th Generation by using www.GoodSearch.com as your search engine and doing your online shopping through www.GoodShop.com.

I’m very happy to let everyone know that we have two additional board members who were voted in at our April 15, 2009 meeting. They are Gloria Dennard and Dr. Abraham E. Haspel. Gloria is the current site manager for the UMI Warner Robins office and previously worked with Northrop Grumman. She has over 20 years experience in US Air Force program management and is the 2007 American Taekwondo Association World Champion in weapons. Dr. Haspel is the president of the Cogent Analysis Group, LLC a company he founded in 2008 which provides consulting services to commercial clients and government agencies. He has a long and distinguished history working at the highest levels of the U.S. government with the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy. We are honored to welcome Gloria and Abe to our Board of Directors.

At the April meeting the Board decided to concentrate our resources on computer donations to Native American schools in need. The objective is to provide technology to schools serving Native American children so that they can compete with the same skill set as other children at their grade level and emerge from high school prepared for the technology-based challenges in our current economy. We recently were approved as a new partner organization by the National Cristina Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation which encourages companies and individuals to donate computers and other technology, which is then matched to charities, schools and public agencies. This was the result of a grant drafted and submitted by one of our volunteers (and wife of Board member Brad Barnes), Heidi Barnes with assistance from UMI Network Administrator James Rallo.

We will be receiving computers from the Cristina Foundation periodically for the purpose of placing these computers in schools in need serving Native Americans. James Rallo has engaged the Combbat Robotics Team comprised of students from two local schools, Astronaut High School and Titusville High School. Prior to shipping the computers out to the designated Native American schools, six students from the Robotics Team, under the supervision of James who is one of the team mentors, are volunteering their time to dust, erase all data and install software in the computers. Many thanks to these students for giving of their time to help Native American students who are not so fortunate with their technology capabilities!

Kim L., our Veterinary Technology scholarship student is in the second year of the program and finishing up her spring semester. She will be taking her finals the first week in May and then have a short break before Summer school. Kim continues working for our board member Dr. Paul Burger at his animal clinic and the reports are that she is an excellent worker and an asset to the clinic!

7^th Generation Community Services Corporation was donated a Dell laptop for our Veterinary Technician student. The Dell laptop was presented to Lisa McCann , VISTA Resource Developer in August 2008. Linda and Fremont Bassett head the non-profit organization, Computers for Education, located in Titusville, Florida. Along with about 40 other volunteers, the Bassetts take computers that have been donated by local organizations and refurbish them. In turn these newly refurbished computers are donated to students and schools in need. The hardware is donated to the cause by Boeing. A big thanks goes out to Bassetts and the many volunteers that give their time and talents to such a worthy cause.