Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, Newport High students to take computers, dictionaires to Antigua

March 17, 2009 1:26 pm
Members of the Cisco Networking Academy at Newport High School will be taking refurbished computers to Antigua. Front row from left
Members of the Cisco Networking Academy at Newport High School will be taking refurbished computers to Antigua. Front row from left

A group of Newport High School students and members of the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club will head to Antigua in April to deliver dictionaries and computers to 15 schools.

The computers were spruced up with the assistance of Interconnect, a local non-profit that recycles and upgrades computers while teaching people the skills to work on computers.

The project follows up on the success of the same program in Antigua’s schools last year.

“It is great way to help provide children with modern tools that expose them to world of technology,” said John Martinka, BBRC’s program coordinator.

He also noted that by reusing computers, it can impact “kids’ lives in a tangible way.”

From April 1-11 the BBRC and Newport High School team will be working on two separate activities to help bring technology and dictionaries to the children in Antigua’s schools.

The 225 computers, donated by local supporters, are all Pentium IV’s and all have flat panel monitors. Almost 200 of these computers will be installed in labs, about 10 percent held back for spares and the remaining laptops will go to school administrators and specialty teachers who travel between schools. The Newport High School students will install the computer labs in the schools.

The team will distribute almost 1,000 donated English dictionaries from the United Kingdom (part of Rotary’s worldwide dictionary program) to primarily third grade students.

The activity is being aided by Rotary International, Northwest Hospital, Overlake Hospital and Microsoft.

In addition, the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club will assist the Antigua Rotary Club by purchasing four used commercial-grade sewing machines and shipping them in the same container that contains the computers. The Antigua Rotary Club has been working with a local non-profit that wants to setup sewing rooms to teach women in poverty the skill of sewing and set them up with jobs sewing school uniforms.

“In Rotary we encourage our members to look for creative and productive avenues in which they can directly benefit the lives of others,” said BBRC president Jenny Andrews. “The Antigua Schools program is an excellent example of how we work with our members, local businesses and others in the community to inspire others to seek service above self.”