APCUG Reports
October-December 2011

God must have liked the idea of HelpingTulsa, because on April 4, 2002, slightly more than one week later Yvette Marrin, Ph.D., President, National Cristina Foundation offerred us 25 pallets (between $350K to $500K of computers and computer parts) of old computers if we could get a tractor trailer rig down to Dallas to pick them up. We began looking for the money to rent the truck, and it turned into 47 pallets, and by the time we got down to Dallas we brought back three tractor trailer loads of equipment. What were we to do with it all. We had not yet found a warehouse that would let us work 6 months for free while we got grants together to pay rent, but we ran across Cornerstone Assistance Network. They were a ministry that took old refrigerators, stoves, and other appliences that got “hauled off” when people bought new ones, and they had warehouse space we could use, so on April 27, 2002 we unpacked our three trailer loads worth of material (see http://helpingtulsa.org/pictures/).

Unfortunately the warehouses were not that secure, and some of the better equipment, like laptops, started growing legs and walking away (if you know what I mean), so Jim helped me empty my garage and a couple of storage sheds, and we brought the most valuable stuff here or to Bethesda Boys Ranch, where he worked. We left a lot of decent stuff at Cornerstone, and we gave them a couple of Image Machines (http://helpingtulsa.org/howto/image_machine.htm), a tool I developed to reimage hard drives with a fresh operating system and one of the suites of application software (http://helpingtulsa.org/#images), like our Children’s Image, Senior Image, etc. for their volunteers to use, and I began working out of my house with a team of volunteers that lived near me, and Jim worked with a team of volunteers that lived in the southern part of Tulsa. This was probably for the best, because my health had started to deteriorate, and it would have been difficult for me to work at Cornerstone, but it was easy for me to work out of my home.

From 2002 to 2008 we refurbished almost 2,000 computers, some of which were distributed in the Tulsa area, and some were sent all over the world. We also helped launch over 15 other computer refurbishing projects, both here in the US and Overseas. By the end of 2008 people stopped dropping off computers to be refurbished, and we had given out the last of the ones we had in inventory that my volunteers had refurbished, and I was thinking seriously about just shutting HelpingTulsa down, and figuring the approximately 2,000 computers we refurbished since we were formed in 2002 was all we were to do.

Apparently God disagreed with that idea, because out of the blue I got a call from Janna Clark with Fox23 wanting to do a story on us. I actually did not think it was a good idea at first, since I did not have any new deliveries to talk about, but she encourage me to let her come over and see what they could do to get donations coming in again. I called one of my volunteers, Jack Allen, and he came over, and Fox23 shot a couple of hours of film, which got edited down to the clip they showed in both their 9:00pm and 10:00pm broadcasts, and put on their website. Here is that story, from http://helpingtulsa.org/fox23.htm on our website, and if you click on that link you can see the video they shot. If that does not work try http://helpingtulsa.org/fox23.mp4 or http://helpingtulsa.org/fox23.wmv. Here is the story they ran: by-line credit goes to Janna Clark and FOX23

An east Tulsa man is trying to help people who need computers, but right now, he nees some help himself. Don Singleton is pretty much stuck in his lift-chair. With severe balance and circulation problems, Don can’t move around much. But he’s always thinking about what he can do. “I see a lot of people who whine. Are they any happier than I am? I don’t think so,” Don said. Don doesn’t want to take vacations or even go across town. He just wants to get to his garage, get to his computers and have the strength to carry them inside. But he doesn’t. So he counts on people like Jack Allen, one of his volunteers.

Don started an organization called Helping Tulsa almost 10 years ago. He takes people’s old donated computers and fixes them. Jack and several other volunteers help. They reconfigure them and give them to people who need them. “In society, the way it’s going, you need a computer,” Jack said. “This is better than nothing, and they can’t afford anything, they think it’s wonderful,” Don said. And even if the computer’s old, as long as it works, people are happy to get one. “It’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick,” Don said.

For Don, the problem isn’t fixing the computers. The problem is getting computers. People have just stopped donating them. “Poor publicity I guess on our part,” Don said. Three out of his four bedrooms are full of parts - plus his garage. But Don needs more computers and more parts, so he can use the parts he already has. His says he’ll take any computer, whether it works or not. But he’d like to have Pentium Ones or newer. Don and Jack want to fix whatever comes in. And then give them away. “It just makes me feel a sense of accomplishment,” Jack said. So Don sits and he waits. “This is my ministry for the rest of my life. I don’t know when the Lord’s going to take me home, but until he does I’ll do something for people,” Don said.

If you’re worried about personal information that’s on your hard drive, Don says the first thing he does is wipe it clean. He says he uses the same program as the Department of Defense. If you’re really worried about it, he’ll give you a disk or CD and you can do it yourself. Don says even if your computer doesn’t work, he can use it for parts. He also needs your old monitor, key pad and mouse. If you want to donate your old computer, you can call Don at (918)622-3417 or go to http://www.helpingtulsa.org

Does your computer user group have a computer refurbishing project? Maybe you can get your TV station to do a news story on you. I recommend you be a little more clear that I was, and not say you will take any old computer (we are going to have to take some of these 286 and 386 machines to the recyclers). And you may want to specify some time constraints when you give them your telephone number. I got one call at 4am. Fortunately I was able to go back to sleep.