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BY ALISON DIANA
FOR FLORIDA TODAY
What began as a neighborly helping hand has extended into a burgeoning
outreach to local school children.
And participants hope this is only the beginning of a program to
recycle older, refurbished computers and place them into the hands of area
students.
When Mary Driscoll, president of Cocoa Beach- based mortgage
bankers Stockton Turner & Driscoll, was having problems with her office
computer, work neighbor Ken Carlson, program manager for the PET& S/ 45th
Space Wing at Tybrin Corp.’ s Cocoa Beach office, sent Ted Hackler, one of
the company’s network engineers, to help out.
Having discovered Driscoll served as chairwoman for the Hi- Five
Brevard early intervention program — part of the Eckerd Youth Alternatives
not- for- profit organization — Hackler wondered whether the charity could
use refurbished computers.
“ It started there,” said Driscoll.
“ He has really taken charge of the whole thing. People have
computers in their closets. they don’t know what to do with them. This worked
out really well.”
Hackler formatted the hard drives, reprogrammed the computers
colleagues had donated, then added games, some basic freeware programs and
components such as modems, keyboards, speakers and mice, said Richard Rogers,
supervisor of Hi- Five Brevard, Cocoa, which serves Endeavour Elementary in
Cocoa, Riverview Elementary in Titusville and Sherwood Elementary in
Melbourne.
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“ We’re working very closely to build self- esteem and leadership skills,”
Rogers said. “ We teach character education and violence- prevention.”
Hi- Five determined which members, or “ Super Kids,” did not
have computers at home. The group then figured out which 10 students had made
the most progress in the program, said Rogers.
“ We like being part of the local community as well as the
technical community,” said Carlson, who grew up in Clearwater, home of Eckerd
Youth Alternatives’ founder Jack Eckerd.
The organization hopes to receive other donated computers, some
of which can be refurbished or used for parts, said Hackler.
“ I wiped them all out and reloaded them,” he said, adding
that he is willing to delete the hard drive information in front of wary
individuals who are passing along their older PCs.
Today, 60 students participate in Hi- Five’s Super Kids program,
said Rogers. Once they all have a computer at home, the group plans to start
an after- school program, where children can study, learn about computers and
do their homework, he said. In addition, the group hopes to expand its
computer donation program to encompass other, non- Hi- Five students at
participating schools, said Rogers.
For more information about Hi- Five and the Eckered Youth Altern
a t i v e s , g o t o h t t p : / / www.eckerd.org To donate computers, peripherals and
accessories, call 633- 7090.
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