So the next order of business—

August 15, 2009, Geek-a-thon, 6pm at the Brassworks Building, 648 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

The Geek-a-thon is ellohay! West Michigan’s first annual install-fest. This evening event that will bring geeks from all over the area together to help prepare 100 computers to be given away, free of charge, to at-risk and impoverished high school students in Grand Rapids, MI.

We are expecting approximately 100 guests for an evening of games, robotics demonstrations, food and drinks.

Poster for the event:
8.5 x 11 ellohay! West Michigan Geek-a-thon poster

Guests and vendors include, Geek-Aid West Michigan, MadCap Coffee, Astronomer Rickey Ainsworth from the Grand Rapids Public Museum Planetarium, the Lego Mindstorm Robotic youth group presenting their Robo-Sumo match, Intelligent Interactive Technology from Jason Sosa’s Immersive Labs, Comprenew Environmental eWaste truck, and more

We are working directly with Geek-Aid of West Michigan, who is holding their Geek-Aid 2009 concert the same day in Riverside Park to raise awareness of youth poverty and digital exclusion in West Michigan.

We need the geeks and nerds of West Michigan to come together and volunteer a few hours of their time to a great cause that will help stimulate job growth, foster community, increase school participation, fight poverty and digital exclusion, and create new jobs!

For more details, visit our facebook event page, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=57803959897

Map to the Brassworks building:

Ellohay! West Michigan is built around three principle goals; Earn a Laptop, Technical Literacy, and Tech Support.

As participants make their way through the program, they will be provided a laptop donated to the organization by West Michigan businesses, loaded with Linux Ubuntu and other open-source software by volunteers.

In order to obtain ownership of the laptop, participants will participate in 8 hours of community service, as well as attend workshops to meet prearranged technical literacy benchmarks that they have created for themselves with an ellohay! Volunteer Counselor.

Eventually the hope is that the community service will continue beyond the program, and graduating individuals will share their new skills among homes and neighborhoods as a grass-roots line of tech support.

If you have a gently-used laptop to donate, please call (616) 446-3622, and we’ll pick it up. It will go to a good home and live a new life in West Michigan!

We also need sponsors for our upcoming pilot program with West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology (WMCAT) this Fall.

You, your group, or business can sponsor one student for three months for just $170. She’ll receive a laptop, hands-on workshops, a mentor, and technical support.

If you have questions, email me Marie-Claire at marie-claire (at) ellohay.org. Cheers!

The article Closing the Digital Divide written by Keith Essenburg, photos by Brian Kelly.