Smith
Donates Computers for New Senior Center
 Visitors to the new Northampton Senior Center will have
enhanced access to the Internet, email, word processing and
other computer activities thanks to a donation of 15 Dell
computers from Smith this month.
The computers – Dell GX400 desktop models with 512
RAM – will be a vast improvement over what is available
now, says Abbie Czelusniak of Northampton, who coordinates
the senior center.
“We’re very excited about this,” she said. “We
had only two computers available before and they were pretty
old. This is going to be wonderful.”
The Senior Center joins a growing list of local and faraway
organizations to have received used computers from Smith
during the past decade. Each year, personnel in Information
and Technology Services replace computers among faculty and
staff members with new and refurbished equipment. When they
do, they prepare the used models for donation to local nonprofit
agencies, which contact the college with their requests.
“We’ve had these computers go just about everywhere,” said
Greg Coccoluto, desktop systems analyst in ITS, who is responsible
for replacing old computer equipment. After Hurricane Katrina
struck the Gulf of Mexico region, for example, Smith delivered
75 computers to schools in the New Orleans area. The college
has also donated computers to local schools, family help
organizations, and one year to a library in Puerto Rico.
“We do the best we can to fulfill these requests,” said
Donna Schnopp, fixed asset assistant in ITS, who coordinates
the donations. “We’re just here to help.” Schnopp
estimates that the college fulfills nearly all computer requests
from nonprofits.
The new Northampton Senior
Center, located in a newly constructed building on Conz
Street, will open on September 30, replacing the former
center located in the basement of City Hall on Main Street.
The center will feature a computer room and will offer
courses for the city’s elderly on how to
use the machines.
“Many of these folks have family members spread around
the country,” said Czelusniak of people who frequent
the senior center. “It’s nice for them to keep
in touch with their families through email. It’s going
to be a nice place for people to go and spend a couple hours
in the afternoon.”
A plaque commemorating
Smith’s donation will adorn
the wall of the computer room, Czelusniak said.
During the last academic year,
from July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2007, Smith donated 66
Windows PCs and 34 Apple computers,
reports Kate Etzel, director of user support in ITS. The
original purchase price of those computers totaled approximately
$238,000, she said. |
