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The Computer Donation Program • Home |
Computer Repair • Services & Fees |
Our Plea to Our Monterey Peninsula Community.
Birdies for Charity (BFC) is an exciting opportunity for Loaves, Fishes & Computers to raise money through the 2012 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament. Hosted by Monterey Peninsula Foundation (MPF), BFC is a fundraising program geared towards raising thousands of additional dollars for Northern California charities.
"Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations are invited to involve their communities in a pledge drive, similar to a walk-a-thon, based on the total number of birdies made by PGA TOUR professionals during the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Charities solicit donors to pledge an amount per birdie or a flat donation. MPF administers the program and covers all associated costs including pledge forms, prizes, and collecting donations. 100% of collected pledges go directly to the soliciting charity with an additional 15% match."
LFC is grateful to be apart of BFC. LFC is in dire need of external funding. We have been self-sufficient for over 2 years now, but with the rising demand of our services, our expenses have increased disproportionately. Our limited funding prevents us from moving forward and helping the numerous families with school children ( schools require technology, and the unemployed who are fighting to get a job to be self-sufficient, and to be off social services. With over two years of volunteering, Our Executive Director's funds have run dry (the same funds that founded LFC); He and LFC's dedicated staff need funding source to survive; A minimum wage is all we're looking for. It will costs LFC a minimum of $7,000/month to keep computers going out the door, pay everyone a wage that keeps a roof over their head, rent to keep the doors open, computer parts purchased, insurance, utilities, and other overhead. This is a plea not to pad our coffers, but a pure-honest request for funds to keep our doors open. We're not asking for a lot; we're asking for just enough. Please, spread the word. We welcome you into our facility/home. Come and meet us. You'll see, we're good people. Please give from your heart this Holiday season by donating here. Thank you from all of us at LFC, and on behalf of all 400 of our clients.
Welcome to Loaves, Fishes & Computers- Monterey County's ONLY Microsoft authorized computer refurbishing and placement program. It is our primary objective to provide low-cost ($59-$129) complete working computer systems & technical assistance to every in-need citizen of Monterey County and beyond [based on eligibility], focusing on low-income households with children, non-profits and schools. Our computers are obtained from people and businesses that donate their used equipment to us. In turn, we fix them up, install all the appropriate software, include the desktop computer,monitor, mouse, keyboard... and provide a family or individual with a ready-to-use modern computer with a three-month warranty. Mac's, PC's & Linux Boxes are available. We occasionally provide laptops when we have them to offer. We have provided over 350 computers to our Monterey Community.
In addition, we offer a sliding-scale computer repair service which provides an affordable solution to all computers in need of TLC. We service businesses, personal computers in your home, other non-profits, & senior centers. Fixing your computers is how we can keep LFC afloat, and... we love to do it too (seriously!).
We believe that everyone should be able to continuously cultivate all the rewards and resources a computer can supply.
We Accept Computer Donations From You...
...Refurbish, Repair & Reuse Them...
...And Provide Them to People In Need.
Recent News: (1/9/2011)
-- We are seeking computer donations (and any monetary amount you can comfortably afford) from local schools & businesses! If you know of any leads on computers being decommissioned, please call us and we will take it from there. Thank you to ALL the past entities who have donated equipment to LFC and the community.
--LFC has received a gracious contribution from St. Mary's by-the Sea in Pacific Grove, CA. The Guild of St. Mary's approved a request of $360 to pay for 12 weeks of roundtrip bus fare, and lunches for two homeless gentleman from Chinatown, Salinas. Both men come in (at least) three times per week to help us refurbish computers, learn marketable computer skills and get away from Chinatown for a few days. Their names are Eugene & Van, and they rock.
-- On November 15th, Monterey Peninsula Volunteer Services of Seaside, CA contributed $2,000 to LFC. MPVS is a thrift store that donates 100% of its proceeds to non-profits on the Monterey Peninsula. LFC thanks MPVS for their generous ongoing support, especially during this time of much needed financial assistance from external sources. On behalf of all our volunteers to yours, thank you MPVS. Your efforts are deeply cherished among many Monterey Peninsula non-profits.
--On November 1st, The Community Foundation for Monterey County awarded a $10,000 grant to LFC to bridge our local digital divide. This $10,000 will be used to provide 40 computers to four local non-profits that teach digital literacy skills to their students. 10 computers will be awarded each of the following non-profits: Community Information Centers, SoMoCoCAT, and The Del Monte Neighborhood Networks Computing Center. These organizations will provide computers to low-wealth recipients who graduate from their respective curriculum. Then, the recipients will be monitored over a course of one year to measure the benefit of having a computer in a household. The remaining 10 computers will be awarded to The YWCA so a local program titled "Tech Girlz" can be started to open the hearts and minds of young girls to the areas of the science, technology, engineering and math fields.
-- Fall Semester, 2011: Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) has provided three (yes three!) teams to create ways for LFC to become more sustainable: (1) team from their organizational sustainability class, (1) team from their grant writing class, and (1) team from their financial sustainability class. From writing a $50,000 grant to The Harden Foundation, to getting our brochures into all the One-Stop Career centers in Mo. Co., to focusing our energies on demographics that can benefit from LFC the most: education and the unemployed. All three teams have found creative solutions for LFC to continue on.
--Fall Semester, 2011: CSUMB has provided two teams to LFC. (1) team has taught the residents at Rippling River (Carmel Valley section 8, low-income retirement community for mentally and physically disabled residents) how to use a computer for a 4 consecutive weekends. (1) team who has crafted our computer repair boot camp curriculum, that will be used to teach the youth how computers work, install an operating system and set-up a wireless network. They are also in the process of evaluating our past computer recipients to measure how a computer has helped them. An amazing bunch of students that continue to grow LFC into a mature organization.
-- We did it! Loaves, Fishes & Computers, Inc. is officially recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization. This allows us to issue tax-deductible receipts for all donations and apply for grants. See our IRS Letter of Determination here.
-- On Sunday, October 23rd, Loaves, Fishes & Computers was invited on the KRXA 540 AM local radio show "Conversations With Chris" 5-6 pm to introduce it's services to the community. Christian Mendelsohn was a little nervous talking to everyone from here to Fresno, but loosened up and enjoyed it immensely.
-- LFC has invited four of the most promising graduates of our Chinatown Community Learning Center Refurbishing Class to our shop in Seaside, twice a week, Tuesday's & Thursday's to help us refurbish computers. We pay their bus fare to and fro, buy them lunch, and hope to find money for a small stipend for them in the next few weeks. Would you like to purchase a refurbisher for a day? Click the donate button above! UPDATE: 3 members of this graduate program regularly comes into LFC to volunteer their time. We pay their bus fare and provide them lunch.
-- LFC was in a recent article in the Monterey County Weekly written about the wonderful Peter Nelson, the very cool man who runs the Chinatown Community Learning Center (below). This man knows almost every person's name who calls Chinatown their home. Unfortunately it states that Loaves, Fishes & Computers, Inc. had donated the public computers at CCLC-- this is false. The computers had been donated by a local grant awarded to the hard working people at Connection Monterey.
-- On June 14th, LFC in partnership with CSUMB started teaching refurbishing classes on Soledad Street in Salinas at The Chinatown Community Learning Center, a public computing center for the local transients. It is our dream to open a satellite refurbishing center on Soledad Street, offering possibilities to learn new skills, provide a wonderful service to the local community by providing affordable computers to the low-income, and possibly make a career out of their endeavors. The class is every Tuesday & Thursday 9-11 am, ending on 7-12-2011. Please provide support to LFC to make this dream become a reality.
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-- "On Thursday May 26, the 6th Grade class 'wrapped up' their final technology class with a visit from Mr. Christian Mendelsohn, founder of local organization Fishes, Loaves and Computers (LFC). The students learned about how LFC receives donated computers and refurbishes them. The computers are then sold at a very low cost to the community, usually to local, low-income families and individuals that need the accessibility for seeking jobs or taking online courses. The students also dug into a desktop computer to discuss common computer problems, and explored ways to troubleshoot them.
Following the class, the 6th Grade and Mr. Mendelsohn posed with some of the technology donated this week to LFC - including parts from 10 desktop systems from Grades K and 1 (replaced by iPads over the summer). Thanks for visiting, Christian!" -- The Pirate Log.
Thank you RLS & Mr. Mueller for your donation and invitation. Your children welcomed us with such enthusiasm and kindness. It was a joy!
-- To the Mr. & Mrs. who live on the coast & so generously donated another $1,000 to our cause. Thank you for keeping LFC alive for one more month, providing a place for many people to learn, volunteer, and receive a computer.
-- LFC has had only 3 computers, out of 220, come back for a warranty repair or replacement. That's a great return rate, especially with the equipment we deal with.
-- On Saturday, April 23/30/May 7th, in partnership with The CSUMB Service Learning Institute (2 Tech Tutor students: Jamie & Nic) and LFC, we hosted a series of refurbishing classes for 12 kids from The Boys & Girls Club. Not only did they learn how to refurbish a computer, they refurbished their own computer system they will brought home with them, with a flat screen monitor, keyboard and mouse. Software licenses donated by LFC. Computer systems donated by The Boys & Girls Club.
-- On March 16th, in partnership with The CSUMB Service Learning Institute (3 Networking Security students: Greg, Chris & Nick), LFC & The John Stewart Company, a micro-computer cluster (with video chatting) and communal wireless network was installed at The Rippling River Retirement Community in Carmel Valley, where most are home bound and Section 8. The coolest thing about it? All internet traffic is filtered for ads and viruses before it reaches the end users' computers, dramatically lowering the chance of virus infection (and the added expenses of removing them).
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-- On April 20 & 27, the same 3 CSUMB students above (and LFC) taught 8 residents of Rippling River how to use the internet, email, and word processing.
-- Regretfully, due to budget restrictions, LFC can no longer provide computers for free in exchange for volunteering. Up to present, LFC has provided over 50 complete computer systems/laptops for no-cost to approved recipients. Until we can find appropriate funding to provide free laptops/desktops for extremely low-income individuals, we must continue to charge a very reasonable price for all computers. We are working on finding such funding!
-- Our core volunteers deserve the most recognition of all. Everyday, LFC has the same refurbishers come in to refurbish, repair, & improve LFC in so many ways. A HUGE thank you to Ali Abrahim, David Correia, Steve Rubin, Christopher Kennedy, Jesus Casteneda, Eugene (from The Chinatown, Salinas), Van (from Chinatown, Salinas), Daniel Dau, Sandra Forman, Gene Rojas, Dan Filcek, "Cat" and Thomas Lepingwell (our 40 hours/week amazing volunteer operations manager, a former drop out of Carnegie Mellon University). It's always a pleasure. With out you, LFC could no longer continue to support our community. To all the other recent volunteers who are making a home at LFC, welcome.
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-- LFC has created a total of over 5,690 volunteer hours within Monterey County.
Loaves, Fishes & Computers, Inc.
Physical Address: 348 Roberts Avenue (Behind Home Depot)
Seaside, California 93955
831-393-9260
9am - 5 pm Monday - Friday
10 - 2 Saturday
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loavesfishescomputers@gmail.com
*If your computer is brought to our shop.
**Thank you Andrea Andrade for use of your beautiful work in the embedded background**