To celebrate International Literacy Day, at a brief but exciting ceremony on the evening of September 12th, Project Read supporters Kit Castagne, Joy Carrell, and Nolasco Mappala picked the 20 winning tickets for our largest Free Computer Raffle to date. Joy is a dedicated Project Read tutor and an employee of Paymap, Inc. She arranged for Paymap to make a very generous donation of 20 high-powered Windows 98 computers and monitors which the company retired from service. Nolasco and his team at Paymap reformatted all the computers, organized the materials, and even helped load them into the Project Read van.
     The winners included Diego Acuña, Monique Bailey, Janet Boston, Bruce and Tiny Browning, John Carpenter, Hoover Chan, Willie Chauncey, Mattie Footé, Seema Hossain, Jaime Khalil, Robert Kucel, Roy Morris, Pat Nash, Lumont Otis, Darvel Parks, Maurice Roberson, Ernest Stevens, Karl Stewart, and Tim Tywman. Each winner is scheduled to receive a personal computer orientation from Project Read staff members Brian Castagne and Warren Kennell.
     Brian and longtime super-tech volunteer Jon Gillespie have been hard at work customizing the computers and installing brand new modems and sound cards. Project Read has spent over $600 for parts to ready these computers for our learners. If you’d like to make a financial donation in support of our efforts and help prepare us for the next Computer Giveaway, please don’t hesitate. More computers will be raffled at the Holiday Party!