[SomeoneUKno]

Hey everyone.

Some of you might know me, and I might have helped some of you out even. If you dont, my name is David Weiler, and I'm a 16-year-old high school student who is going to Verdugo Hills High School in California. As a lot of people have been, I've had a personal hit by the recent disaster that has come up from Hurricane Katrina. My two cousins who are really close to me we're hit in Mississippi by Katrina, and like a lot of other people, decided to wait out the storm instead of evacuating when they had the chance. My family in Missouri has been trying to get a hold of them for quite a while now, but havent been able to, seeing that all power and communication lines are out. This has left me and my family worried, just like many others. And like a lot of my friends and I, we are not able to help those in need, since we are all teenagers my age. Because of this, I have decided to start up what I call Project: Katrina Relief. Since my hobby most of my life has been computers (ever since i was 4, i cant seem to get away from them) I've decided to try to help refugees get in communication with their loved ones by the internet. Since power is probably going to be one of the first things that will be restored before anything else to a lot of these refugee camps in Louisiana and Mississippi, I've wanted to try to help them out by setting them up with some desktop systems so they can at least have a shot of getting in touch with them. Since telephone lines are probably not going to be restored for quite a while, I have gotten in touch with both Dish network and DirecTV to see if I could maybe get some kind of internet connection via satelitte. I know its a long shot from anything, but if I could at least help one person, that would be great for me. A couple of my friends are also going to be helping me build these computers, which I really do appreciate, I now find myself asking for help from the public. I figured that a lot of people would maybe have old computer equipment that they want to get rid of, and so I'm asking that instead of trashing those old systems, if you would be kind enough to donate them to me. I know that I dont really have anything I can give to you in return, except for a huge thank you, I'm really despirate here, and would see if I could maybe get even a refugee who used your old equipment to send you a thank you. I would also like to give these people the old equipment, as a tool to help them get off the ground once again. The page I have set up on my personal site for my project can be found here:http://www.freespaces.com/dawhiteguyukno/katrina.htm If you would like to donate something, feel free to send an email to me at: projectkatrina@gmail.com, or private message me through the forum, or if you have AIM, IM me at: Dawhiteguyukno. I know that this might not work, or it might just help out a few people, but even that would make me feel like I did my part for these people in need.

Thank you all in advance,
David Weiler

[Alan18]

Bump

[SIR****TMG]

Good idea...........

[MSM Hobbes]

David, this is great initiative, and means to help in possibly on the surface maybe small part, but communications are so important! Please keep us updated w/ news and further developments, needs, etc. - esp. the part about the DishTV, etal. Again, thanks.

Since some people may not see this thread in this section, you might also desire to post similar message in another or two threads in CD and/or Random - even tho' duplicate posts, per se, are forbidden in TSG, just make 'em similar. In any case, I'd be hopeful that the mods, etc. would give such a good deed a pass...

[SomeoneUKno]

thanks a lot! If anyone is interested at all, I have also set up a new forum site at: http://projectkatrina.forumsplace.com Just PM me if you've signed up with your user name and I'll activate your account!