Helping Slave Lake rebuild with FOSS and sustainable IT

[Vaughn Male]

On 11-05-17 10:59 AM, Ralph Pichie wrote:
> Thousands of people have lost everything in the fire that destroyed
> much of Slave Lake and forced the population to evacuate. The new
> library is gone. That means hundreds of school-age children will have
> no access to computers when they return to the area and families will
> be without computers and Internet communications.
>
> GNU/Linux and free software is known for its adaptability to the needs
> of developing and recovering communities, which Slave Lake now is.
> While we focus on the tragedy, we should not lose sight of the
> opportunity to introduce thousands of people to the many benefits of
> secure, sustainable, open and adaptable software. Let's put a dent in
> the mountain of allegedly obsolete computers otherwise destined for
> unsafe disposal or the landfill. Let's help Slave Lake put funding
> into more important things than software license fees and pricey
> hardware they don't actually need.
>
> With experience in aboriginal organizations, a location in Edmonton,
> connections in Athabasca (where an evacuation center is located) and
> experience converting computers to GNU/Linux or free software on
> Windows, I am in a unique position to coordinate aid for Slave Lake.
>
> I'll be over at the temporary shelter in Edmonton to see what I can do
> for the people who are staying there, both in the short term and when
> they start rebuilding.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ralp Pichie
>
>
> For those of you who are not familiar with free/open source software
> or computer recycling/re-use, here are  some links:
>
> Ubuntu Canada Local Team web site: http://ubuntu-ca.org/
> Ubuntu main site: http://www.ubuntu.com/
> Free software at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software
> Free Geek Vancouver: http://freegeekvancouver.org/
> Linux for Aboriginal beings  http://tinyurl.com/3d939t4
>
>
> If you missed this important bit of Canadian news:
> http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/05/17/slave-lake-tues.html
>
Do you want any help?