The Independence Day Computer - Please Donate (Update: All $1,075 raised)!

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The Independence Day Computer - Please Donate (Update: All $1,075 raised)!


For years I've made extensive use of public libraries. In high school I would read at least 1-2 books a week, all from the library at my school. During summers in college when I was at home and doing homework or correspondence classes I would go to the public library near my house for hours at a time to study.Till this day I still visit the public library about 2-3 times a week. At least once a week I sit there and read every newspaper I can and every magazine that interests me. I also still checkout at least 1-2 books per week.This equates to a lot of trips to the library...and all that information, all that wealth of knowledge in there, is free.Here is the Ruiz branch of the Austin Public Library System which I frequent:
This library caters mainly to a low income crowd. Something I love seeing every time is the publicly available computers are always packed. But mainly I love seeing that it's mostly kids using the computers. Generally they are using the computers for things that are seemingly "useless" like MySpace, Facebook, playing games or watching videos on YouTube....but those things are very important. When a kid grows up on a computer like this it gives them familiarity with using computers which is the goal.
(In case you were wondering....Yes, I did look like a creepy guy taking photos of the computer area)...so anyways, the reason I liked this was because till this day I make my living from a computer. I remember having a computer since I was very, very young, but by high school that 33 Mhz computer was getting outdated. I remember my school getting brand new Pentium II computers that ran at 400 Mhz, I was amazed at how fast they were. I was impressed that a public setting had such advanced computers.I would stay every day after school for these new computers with high speed internet lines, playing around on them with friends. All this 'playing around' resulted in deeper curiosity about computers and how to make web pages, program in different languages, how to use different graphics programs and opened up worlds of information.Thanks to these computers I launched my first websites and even first internet business (HouseOfRave.com) from classrooms in high school.SO after visiting my local library quite frequently and seeing the computers almost always fully occupied by kids, I wanted to do something small for them and donate a computer.Now I don't want to donate an old clunker, but rather something modern that will last a while and allow for fast usage. I felt almost a little...not sure how to word this..."special"...getting to use such new computers when they installed them at my school, and hopefully this can give the same feeling to someone younger.I spoke with the technology coordinator and the library specifically needs Dell OptiPlex 755's with several upgrades. They gave me a long list of must-have requirements, and the desktop with a 19" flat screen comes to $1,075.00. ...not bad computers for a public library. In fact the computer they need is far superior than my own desktop!Installed the computer looks something like this:
I'm asking the NevBlog readership to help me in getting this computer donated. We need to raise $1,075 for the full system. It comes with slim desktop, monitor and plenty of power for a library computer...and it won't be outdated for quite some time.I will donate $300 out of my own pocket. I am making sure the donated computer will be placed in the Ruiz Branch Library of the Austin Public Library System, because I persoanlly go to this library all the time and know for a fact they need more computers, and also know for a fact that 80% of the users are always kids (the Central Library in Austin has 40+ computers, and I've hardly ever seen a kid use one..it's almost all adults).