Posted: July 29, 2011
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* Free Geek start date: June 2009

* Volunteer hours: 529 and counting!

* Volunteer areas: Tech Support & So Much More!

Evie moved from Virginia to Portland a little over three years ago. She actually visited Free Geek before she moved—she found that she loved it so much that it was one of the first places she became involved with upon arriving in the city.

Evie has volunteered in Tech Support, Outreach, and System Administration. She loves coming to Free Geek during off hours and completing large projects for everyone to use when the return to Free Geek after a weekend. She also has gone to some major tech conferences promoting Free Geek and the importance of safely dealing with e-waste.
“Free Geek gives me freedom to work on projects that are important to the infrastructure and benefit the employees as much as the volunteers,” writes Evie, “Free Geek gives me the ability to work with all different types of hardware and configurations where I can explore new ideas and solve logical problems while learning. I get a real sense of satisfaction when completing projects here. I also love the staff at Free Geek, they have been very open to my ideas and let me play with great old/new/obscure technology.”
One of her favorite memories comes from volunteering for Free Geek at the First LinuxCon where she got to meet and have lunch with Linus Torvalds, one of the main brains behind the Linux kernel.

Evie is a true geek who has been interested in technology “from the womb.” Away from Free Geek she enjoys a variety of geeky pursuits including video games, small electronics projects, retro computing and gaming, phone hacking, space weather, beer tasting, and being a NASA Fan Boy. Go Science!

Thanks Evie!

Posted: April 21, 2011
Filed under: Uncategorized

Posted: February 26, 2011
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We’re not doing a sale or anything, but we’re in an especially good mood, so you may get lucky with the prices today.

Come wish a happy birthday to the most dapper used computer salesman you know.

Posted: January 7, 2011
Filed under: Uncategorized

We are not considering any new applications at this point.

Posted: November 17, 2010
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On November 16th we passed a computer system onto Bike Farm, where – no bikes don’t grow in soil! – educational opportunities abound regarding commuting, repair, etc.

Posted: September 24, 2010
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Posted: October 15, 2009
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In 2009, the Free Geek Community Technology Center became the first Oregon nonprofit recognized as a Basel Action Network e-Stewards Recycler, the gold standard for ethical practices in electronics recycling.

BAN is an international nonprofit organization that advocates for environmental justice and responsibility in the handling of electronic waste. “It is an expensive and complex process to recycle electronics so the poisonous byproducts do not hurt people or the planet,” said Jim Pucket, BAN’s Executive Director. “We congratulate Free Geek on passing our rigorous review.” Read More…

Posted: January 14, 2009
Filed under: Uncategorized

In 2008, Free Geek donated six computers to Giving Tree NW, whose mission is to “help people living in low-income and transitional housing connect with themselves and their community.”

“Living in poverty creates a deep sense of isolation,” said Wendi Anderson, President of Giving Tree NW. “These people do not have the skills or resources necessary to reach out and ask for help.” They’ve lost hope.

“We teach them life-skills training, take them on art walks, and provide them with movie nights,” said Anderson. “We connect them with schools, social service organizations, job training, health and nutrition services, and technology.”

Their clients, such as teenage runaways, elderly veterans, people with mental illnesses, and children whose parents have fallen on bad times, all benefit from the six donated computers.