Current Activities

Most recent activities

FoYM volunteers are testing computers every Tuesday and Thursday starting June 03, 2004. We are preparing for our next shipment sometime towards the end of Summer 2004.

Computer Collection

FOYM is involved in a continuous effort to collect old computers that are outdated in the U.S., and make them available for the education of students in the financially handicapped regions of the world. Seven shipments have already been made—the last one was given to the shipping agent on June 10th, 2002. Some of the shipped computers are already being used.

The computers are collected, tested, and packed by FOYM volunteers before they are transferred to the shipping agent. This is the main activity of FOYM at Rice and is an ongoing process. Volunteers meet twice a month (or more often, if needed) to discuss the progress and assign responsibilties. E-mails and web-pages are used extensively for efficient internal communication.

Funding for shipments, packing, and local transport comes in part from Community Involvement Center (CIC), and from various fund-raising efforts by FOYM. In accordance with its constitution FOYM tries to minimize incidental expenses and does not send monetary gifts as part of the shipments.

Book Collection

FOYM also collects books (mainly technical) that are shipped along with the computers. These books are donated to Vivekananda Seva Mandal that maintains an engineering library for needy students in Mumbai. FOYM has been shipping books along with computers starting with the third shipment.

Community Service

Please feel free to contact us for more information if you are interested and would like to contribute.


Last updated on Jun 15th, 2002