Photograph by George Sakkestad
Richard Castro hands a computer to Diana Wagner during Project C:Drive. Hundreds of computers and parts were donated last week, to be refurbished and delivered to local schools.
By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Bay Area residents, troubled by California's ranking of 50th in the nation in its ratio of computers to students, last week had a chance to make a difference for kids in Sunnyvale and other area schools.
The Sunnyvale Town Center asked people to drop off used computers, printers and other peripherals to be refurbished and given to schools, said Beth Nastrini of Sunnyvale Town Center.
C:Drive, the largest computer drive of its kind, ran from Oct. 25 to Nov. 3.
Valley Fair Shopping Center, Oakridge Mall and Sunnyvale Town Center partnered with the Detwiler Foundation Computers for Schools Program, a computer donation nonprofit organization in La Jolla, to sponsor the project.
Intel donated 750 systems, and Advanced Micro Devices donated 90 computers, 60 monitors and other peripherals, Nastrini said.
The Detwiler Foundation last year gave computers to South Peninsula Hebrew Day School and Ponderosa Elementary School in Sunnyvale and Cupertino High School through its other programs, said Deborah Brenner, program director for the Computers for Schools Program.
Donated computers will be refurbished in computer-repair classes at Mission and San José City colleges, as well as other sites throughout the state.
Sunnyvale Town Center will continue its efforts to help schools get computers by remaining a drop-off point for used computers after C:Drive ends, Nastrini said.
"We want people to know that there is always something they can do. If they upgrade their computer at Christmas, we can still get the old one refurbished and into a local school," she said.
Schools apply to the Detwiler Foundation to obtain computers, and Brenner estimates the foundation will have computers to distribute in February or March.
Doris Wilson, superintendent of the Sunnyvale Elementary School District, said Sunnyvale schools will definitely apply to receive some of the equipment.
"I just passed the notice on to the principals yesterday. We use computers as a way to access information and to access the curriculum. We do not see them as an end, but they are another means to learning," she said.
Each school in the district has a computer lab, but Wilson hopes to see six to seven computers in each classroom.
"Students won't have to wait for their hour per week to access them. They can just walk over to the side of the room and do their work," she said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, November 6, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.