One Person’s Garbage is a Child’s Treasure

By Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

Jun. 4–Grand Forks’ LaGrave Learning Center recently received three computers chock-full of educational games for elementary schoolchildren courtesy of the Kiwi Project.

The mission of the project is to “bridge the digital divide” by refurbishing used computers for use by local nonprofit groups. Students from UND’s computer science department and their instructor, Tom Stokke, make up the Kiwi Project.

They delivered their first computers in March.

The partnership between LaGrave and the Kiwi Project received national recognition in May from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD regularly recognizes success stories at Neighborhood Networks learning centers, typically located on low-income housing properties.

There are more than 1,300 Neighborhood Networks centers in the United States, and LaGrave frequently has won recognition as one of the most successful. The center offers work-force training classes, free computer access and after-school programs for children in grades

K-12.

“They’ve already given us three computers, and there are two more on the way — all computers that would have been taking up space in our landfill,” said Christina Hutchison, LaGrave’s Neighborhood Networks coordinator. “The Kiwi Project has not only gotten the kids more excited about computers, it has taught them the importance of recycling as well.”

Hutchison found out about the Kiwi Project after reading an ad in the campus newspaper, “The Dakota Student.”

After a tour of the LaGrave Learning Center, project leader Collin Anderson, knew it was a great fit for his group’s work and agreed to provide five refurbished computers.

The majority of the donated computers have come from UND, Mayville (N.D.) State University and the Grand Forks Public Schools, but the Kiwi Project is open to donations. Visit its Web site at kiwi.cs.und.edu or e-mail collina@gmail.com.

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Copyright (c) 2008, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

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