You can download QuinnCo’s presentation from the show as ODT or PDF.

First, thanks to Dr. Pharr, for her wonderful babysitting services. She was, genuinely, the keystone for the day. Without her, I would not have been able to be at the build-day, let alone trying to coordinate.

The build-day is one that I will carry with me for the rest of my years. We may have others, but there will be nothing that will stay with me quite the way this one will. It took my breath away, to look up and see what must have amounted to 75 people, working away together, in rhythm and sync. Half of the attendees were residents of the children’s home, and I must say, I was incredibly proud of the way the adult participants took the kids under wing, and really mentored them through all of the stages of computer repair and installation. I was so proud to see everyone working together, doing their parts and pitching in. And, at the end of the day, our numbers proved how strong we functioned as a team. We processed a total of 47 computers.

There were moments, in all of this, that took my breath away. I watched a 17 year old boy teach an 11 year old girl how to take RAM out of a junk computer. I listened in as a young college man taught a group of teen girls about electrical circuits, and how computers read data as 1s and 0s. I received several squeeze hugs, and thank yous, from kids who were incredibly excited to know they would have a computer they could play with.

All in all, the day was an incredible success, and nothing I write here could adequately describe how thrilled I was, or how proud I am, to call all of the participants friends. Thank you, each and every one of you, for touching my heart, and helping us accomplish this goal. Maybe, hopefully, we managed to change a child’s life for the better. That’s all I can ask for.

One of the best things about QuinnCo is that we are focused on our community. Communities know their needs better than anyone else, and so we are able to put our limited resources to work most effectively this way. Unfortunately, this approach puts so many communities in need beyond our reach.

Fortunately, those communities all have their own members with both the ability and the desire to approach. Some are well known, like HeliOS in Austin, Texas. Or Free Geek in Chicago. But for every group you’ve heard of, there are hundreds of others, maybe some right in your community, that you don’t know about.

That is why we’ve launched Growing Up Free, an information hub for parents, organizations and communities to find each other, to communicate and collaborate with each other, to bring the freedom that technology represents into the lives of those who would not otherwise have it.

So please, visit the new site. It has a small but growing number of organizations and projects listed. If you are a part of an organization with a similar mission to those listed, please add yourself. If you know of an organization or program in your community that isn’t on our list, please add them.

If there aren’t any in your community and you want to start one, we will help you get started. It doesn’t take much to make a difference, a computer here, two computers there, if you help one child improve their future prospects, you’ve made a huge difference. We will help each other, as well as our communities and the children in them.