Stats and Testimonials
Revision as of 06:10, 6 January 2006 by Halfasspete (talk | contribs)
This page exists as a central point for gathering information that demonstrates how cool Free Geek is.
Things that show how cool Free Geek is.
- Please indicate the source and date of anything you add to this list.
- If you're unsure of anything, put it below the double line until it's ready.
- If you have a longer testimonial or item elsewhere in the wiki, please link to it here.
Statistics
- Free Geek has received
nearly 287,000 (286,916) Gizmos from the public, including31,441 systems, 33,169 monitors and 22,102 printers
- taken by Oso from FGDB 11/2000 to 12/05/2005
- Free Geek has put
nearly 50,000 (49,866) Gizmos back into reuse, includingmore than 6,400 (6,412) computer systems
- taken by Oso from FGDB 11/2000 to 12/05/2005
(See talk page for Richard's note concerning counting gizmos)
- Roughly 20% of systems donated to Free Geek over the last 5 years, after reconfiguration, have gone back out as working systems.
- rephrased from Oso's two stats above. --Pete 12:32, 4 Jan 2006 (PST)
Table below reflects number of monetary donations (including monitor fees, individuals, organizations) over $500, $400, etc. It's not a fully accurate account of anything (e.g., if somebody gave $75/month for an entire year, it would not show up at all in this table), but it gives a sense of how the Geek has grown.
--Pete 12:14, 4 Jan 2006 (PST) (using data supplied by Richard. See talk page for SQL queries.)
| $500 & up | 400-499 | 300-399 | 200-299 | 100-199 | |
| 2001 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 12 |
| 2002 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 40 |
| 2003 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 76 |
| 2004 | 19 | 5 | 9 | 30 | 130 |
| 2005 | 11 | 3 | 14 | 40 | 185 |
Testimonials
If you'd like to interview someone to gather some testimonials check out the Testimonial Questions for some ideas of questions to ask. BADLY NEEDED: something from a hardware-grantee.
- "Free Geek has been greatly supportive of the youth and families that I work with. While developing important ties to the community, youth are able to develop important self esteem and job related skills. They are able to do this while earning a computer of their own which can follow them as a tool into their search for jobs in our community."
- Scott Brown LCSW, Youth and Family Therapist, Counterpoint Outpatient, Morrison Child and Family Services
- --Pete 18:12, 19 Dec 2005 (PST)
- "as asked i will give my information my name is forrest i work in various places in freegeek usualy work where they need me meening i move around alot my main reason for joining freegeek was for the store discount but when iheard it was 4 hours for 90 days of discount i decided to just keep comeing in i like working on computers from building them at home or fixing them for friends from time to time i also enjoy learniung new things and since i started at freegeek have learned more then i expected in a 1 month time"
- Forrest Gray, Dec '05.
- Posted to core, approved for public use via another email to core. Thanks Forrest!
- --Pete 18:51, 8 Dec 2005 (PST)
- "At Free Geek, I have been able to both further my knowledge of computer hardware and software, and help train those less knowledgeable than myself. And when I or my clients have old computer systems to get rid of, we know they will be put to the best possible use."
- -Pete Forsyth, small business owner, Puddletown Tech
- --Pete 15:44, 3 Dec 2005 (PST)
- "Sponsoring Free Geek's 'Geek Prom' event was great fun for all of us at New Deal Distillery. The volunteers were fun and easy to work with & the exposure New Deal received was excellent. We'd happily work with Free Geek to support their events again!"
- Jana Hughes, marketing director, New Deal Vodka
- --Pete 21:06, 20 Dec 2005 (PST)
- Dottye Flowers, Free Geek volunteer since 4/2005, 61 years old. Quotes dated 11/05.
- "[Free Geek] is a very good training place. And to me it has been like my extended family."
- "The folks that volunteer [at Free Geek] are fun to work with and all the instructores are very patient and couteous to me and so appreciative of everyone's efforts. I get smiles when I arrive and I am sad to go when I have run out of time."
- "When building my 5th computer, I had picked out one from the warehouse that most of the frequent or regular builders and the instructors thought it might be too hard for me to build. I asked if it could be done and they said yes. Then when I asked if I would have help to build it they all quickly said, "Yes, we will help you." So we all built it and it was a fine system when it was completed. It was a really good looking computer system and I felt so good about the accomplishment. But the thanks really goes to all of the folks around me that helped me build it. My thanks to all who helped me."
- --Shawn 17:19, 29 Dec 2005 (PST)
- An important turning point for me in my Free Geek experience was the day that I noticed, and stopped to consider, a sign in the front entryway that states discrimination based on sexism, and racism will not be tolerated. Someone had modified this notice with the hand written inclusion of able-ism as an additional unacceptable point of view.
- The more I thought about this concept of accepting the contributions of others independent of their respective skills, the more I realized this sort of patience and tolerance is at the core of volunteering at Free Geek. In essence, that having a person’s heart be in the right place, and be willing to contribute at all, transcends the individual results of their abilities.
- Further examination of this credo allowed me to apply it to other aspects of my world; whether volunteering at my daughter’s school, at work, or even my role as a bicycle commuter. Awareness of able-ism as a discriminatory force has broadened my perspective on cooperation, and humanity.
- Dirk Morgan, volunteer
- --Pete 19:03, 4 Jan 2006 (PST)
- I had heard about it years ago through a friend and they said “you have to see this place”. At the time I wasn’t interested; a bunch of geeks recycling computers? That didn’t sound like my idea of fun.
- ...
- About a year ago I had a meeting scheduled for me at Free Geek so I was finally going to get a chance to see the facility. Again, I was a little skeptical (for whatever reason I don’t know). I showed up about 10 minutes before Free Geek opened and I was amazed … what were all of these people doing out in front of the store front? Oh, they must want in on some cheap equipment. That makes sense.
- At 11am the doors opened and I was surprised to see that nobody went into the thrift shop; they were all there to volunteer.
- Scott Kveton, Associate Director, Oregon State University Open Source Lab
- full blog on web
- --Pete 19:03, 4 Jan 2006 (PST)
- I started at Freegeek about two years ago because another computer recycling group had stopped after its leader Marshall Pryon died and a friend there suggested Freegeek as a good place to help others. Now my wife says I just feed my addictions to computers at Freegeek, so whichever it might truly be is not important. I work mostly in advanced laptop build and diagnosis why the laptop hardware is not responding, so we can get them out to non-profits, so they intern can use more of thief resources to reach the needy. I love it at Freegeek, I have learned important things from so many people there, almost everyone there has something to share. Freegeek is a eclectic mix of the best of our society, it is truely a example of people helping each other, there is allot of sweat and tears behind the scenes that is full of love.
- John Warzynski, Build volunteer
- --Pete 19:03, 4 Jan 2006 (PST)
Awards
(copy-and-pasted from Organizational Narrative)
- In November of 2003, Free Geek received Honorable Mention for the Peter F. Drucker Award for Non-Profit Innovation.
- In November of 2002, Free Geek was named a Founder of the New Northwest by Sustainable Northwest. They recognize leadership in sustainable business and economic practices in the northwestern United States. Free Geek was profiled in a book published by Sustainable Northwest in May 2003. Free Geek received the award at the 2003 Sustainability Forum awards banquet.
- In June of 2001, Free Geek's Administrative Coordinator, Oso Martín, was presented an E-chievment Award from the National Public Radio program, E-Town, in recognition of his work to make "a positive difference in his community and beyond".
in-progress stuff
When an item has been completed and verified, please move it above the double line AND put your name by it, in case of questions.
Quantifying our accomplishments:
- Free Geek has recycled approximately 700 tons of computer equipment since its inception. (estimated by Oso - life of program - 11/2000 to 12/05/2005)
- Oso- curious about the estimate. Are there any materials, or time periods we CAN get hard numbers for, or is that just something that isn't tracked? Also, do I understand right, this is what we've sent out and literally "recycled", not including the stuff we've reused? --Pete 21:00, 7 Dec 2005 (PST)
possible interviewees
folks reporters might want to interview for more detail on certain topics:
- Consensus process: Richard (?)
- Education/workforce training: Laurel (?)
- Free Geek as a good playground for making Free Software: Vagrant
- Free Geek as Portland citizen: Oso
- Fundraising: Oso
- LPI tests: Reid Leake, passed 101 and 102 in '05; Keith Lofstrom, prefers email over phone
- Recycling: Christen/Oso
- Linux-related aspects of Free Geek: Dave or Martin
- Volunteer programs: Shawn
- Worker's Collective: Shawn (?)
other relevant wiki pages
good sources for stats
places to use info contained here
- Tour Howto
- Press Kit
- Grant applications
- web site