Coordinator's Report for April and May

General News

The big news is that we have converted our debian distro over to an ubuntu based one. Ubuntu is more known and has better user support. The ubuntu distro still looks and feels like our old debian distro, we've added some new applications - digikam, gramps, gcompris as well as the gnome desktop and some extra gnome applications.  The default desktop is still KDE.

We've sent a few computers across the seas, one went to Canberra and then to Samoa, while 3 are on the way to Swaziland. A laptop is also on the way to Fiji. 

A Cook Islands representative attended training at Computerbank. The project has been delayed due to funding issues, it is hoped the computers will be on the way by the end of June.

Jessica, a long standing volunteer, is moving on due to other commitments. Jessica had been volunteering on the front desk for nearly two years, she has also helped out at Software Freedom Day. We wish Jessica all the best and thank her for her efforts.

Computers Out

March: 31 (2 Darebin, 1 rebuild)

April: 31 (1 Samoa YWCA, 8 Frankston Arts Centre)

May (TD): 27 (3 Swaziland AIDS Project, 1 Fiji, 1 rebuild and 3 MACS)

Year TD: 158

In addition to the computers above, we have also sold in excess of 20 low spec and non-working laptops on ebay.

It should be noted that computers out for the past few months are quite low and that we need to do some promotions to increase this. One way in which everyone can help is to print flyers and leave them in community spaces.

Donations

We received about 25 P4 computers from Overnewton College in Keilor. Lots of individual donations have been coming in as well. We also received around 120 PIII and PIV computers but these do not have CDROMS. These are now referred to as the 'hallway' PC's and are being offered for sale to anyone. Just recently we have starting receiving a rather large donation of P4's from Vision Australia. This should keep us busy for the next few months.

User Support & Training

There seems to be less user support and training, this could be due to going to the new distribution or could be because some people install Windows on our computers.

Volunteers

Welcome aboard to new volunteers Peter, Chitra and John. Peter will be helping out with front desk on Saturdays, Chitra is helping out with documentation remotely and John is happy to help with anything.

Work for the Dole

Everything is going great in WFD - our current team is fantastic. We seem to be keeping on top of most things and have even managed to start doing jobs that have been neglected for a long time.

Last Thing

Don't forget to take some of our fliers and posters to community spaces, it would be great to have more people aware about our services.

Finance Overview

Non WFD Income

Jan: $4490 (+ $262.04 ING)

Feb: $6459.55 (+ $231.25 ING)

Mar: $4732.19, $15832.96 WFD Grant (+ 290.28 ING)

April: $4773.53, $2200 LCA funds, $3922 WFD grant (+341.73 ING)

May (TD): $6447.58 (+336.36 ING)

Bank Balances as at May 16th 2008

ING: $57,973.80

Westpac: $843

Total: $

Outstanding Invoices:

General Invoices: $

WFD Invoices: ~ $ 0