We, the volunteers and staff at Loaves, Fishes & Computers, want to give you a progress update on our exciting project with the Salinas Dream Academy that you made 100% possible through your donation in 2014 to LFC via Monterey County Gives.

Within the past couple weeks, Loaves, Fishes & Computers completed the 10+hours of ​hands-on computer training with the students. The 60 computers the students refurbished are now going through LFC’s internal quality control procedures to make sure they’re perfect for the 60 families who will be receiving them for the holidays.

This project’s mission is to engage students from East Salinas at Alisal High School to show them opportunities in Computer Science for college, careers and beyond, while supporting our community through technology.

Instead of our original 30 students, we had 36 students, 70% female, participate in this rigorous computer science class, under the leadership of our own 5-year volunteer Thomas Lepingwell. The classes taught the students how to remove a computer’s components and reassemble them, how to install Windows operating system, and how computers work. This ultimately gave them an unusually new, fun, engaging and rewarding experience. One female student, Diana (pictured) said that she had aspired to become a nurse, but after participating in these classes, she wanted to go to college and study computer science.

The next steps to complete this initiative is to select the families, and give away the 60 computers over the next two months. Please stay tuned for future updates.

Your generous donation, along with 70 others, has made positive events like these possible in Salinas and our county. Thank you for providing us the opportunity to bring skills, technology and the possibility of a better future to these young adults and families.

With gratitude,
Christian Mendelsohn
Executive Director/Founder
Loaves, Fishes & Computers