The HP Hardware Giveaway

Moosh in Indy as well as 50 other sites are currently running a contest sponsored by HP in which $6000 worth of HP products are up for grabs. The only caveat? You have to give some of the stuff away and explain how you chose who you are donating to and why. For me, that's a piece of cake. Read on...

The prize is spectacular. Unbelievable. So overly generous that it blows my mind. But although our only working computer is ancient, purchased in 2001 and has the tendency to reboot itself often during it's use, we would not keep most of the prize. We just don't need it. But we know who does.

In our city we have a shelter for abused women and their families. It's a 'secret' shelter, so I can't give you the name or the location, but I can tell you something about it. And about one family that we know who currently lives there.

This shelter is housed in an old school building at a church in our city. The families live in classrooms. Every family gets half of a classroom, no matter what the size of the family. There are bunkbeds for all, storage cubbies and drawers, and that's about it. There is a kitchen and the families eat in a communal area, but eat their own cooking. There are spaces for 20 families, and the shelter is always full. People wait long times for spaces.

Many of the children at this shelter go to school and need computers. There is one computer for the entire community and it's even older than mine. It's used for job searches, housing searches, and for homework. Because there is no parking at this shelter (it would make it identifiable), any one needing to use a computer would have to walk miles to get to the nearest library.

These people need a computers so they can search for the help they need. I would donate the desktop to them, as well as the Kung Fu Panda DVDs, all the accessories and copies of all the software licenses. I'd even go further an donate some of my own software that I would load for them. And they can also have this desktop I'm currently working on.

The mini computer would go to the Girl, who really isn't computer savvy and would use it solely to take notes and IM her friends. She needs nothing more and would be thrilled with that. The entertainment laptop would go to the Boy so he could stop watching movies on this computer, hogging it for hours at a time. And the other laptop would be mine, so I can get out of the house and work at my local coffee shop where they give free refills all day long.

We don't need anything else, and the shelter does. There are such wonderful families living there, and so few people that help them to improve their lives. One of the families is that of a friend of the Girls, and they have been in and out of that shelter twice. The abuse that this family has survived is catastrophic and they continue to get out of bed every day and take care of business. The youngster that lives there is a good student and such a pleasant kid. If I could make this child's life a little easier, I would do so in a heartbeat. So I hope I win this contest!

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