Computer gift called 'godsend'
By PATRICIO G. BALONA, Staff Writer
July 06, 2005

DELAND -- The free computer Laqwanda Taylor received Tuesday means she will no longer have to ask her teachers for extensions to complete her assignments.

The 14-year-old 10th-grader was using a public library's computer for one hour a day and sometimes she was late turning in school papers, said her mother, Lawanda Taylor.

The computers students got Tuesday are used, but Lawanda Taylor was all smiles as she struggled to put the hard drive in her car.

"I am happy," said the Wal-Mart cashier. "My daughter needed one but we did not have the money to buy it."

It gives the mother peace of mind too, she said. "I won't have to worry about her being out because she will be working at home," Lawanda Taylor said.

Like the Taylors, 10 other families picked up used computers at DeLand High School. The computers are rebuilt and donated by Gift From God Computer Foundation, a nonprofit agency based in Oviedo, said Valerie Boughner, a DeLand High School biology teacher.

Before coming to Volusia County, Boughner worked at a middle school in Sanford where she met a representative from the foundation last year. She became involved in identifying youth who need computers and asked the foundation if they would be willing to help students in Volusia County too, she said.

She sent out emails to teachers to find children who needed a computer in their homes the most. Thirty-five students are still on her waiting list.

"It is the third time we have given out computers to students (here) who need them," Boughner said. "And as long as they stay in high school, the foundation will repair the computers free of charge."

Businesses all over Central Florida are upgrading their systems or getting new computers and many donate their old ones to the agency, said Paul Rosarius, the foundation's co-founder. Rosarius, who owns a computer store in Oviedo, said the idea came after he began seeking donations for computers to send to Namibia.

"We sent 160 of them," Rosarius said. "Then, when I was traveling, I began thinking that we could do the same for children in our own back yard."

That was May 2003. Some of the parents who received computers called and thanked them, saying they were a "godsend." That is how the effort became known as Gift from God Computer Foundation, Roasarius said. The agency now gives away 20 computers a week to Central Florida students, he said.

"They are doing a wonderful job," Boughner said. "I encourage businesses from Volusia to donate computers to the foundation so more children who need them can get them."

To donate, call Paul Rosarius at (407) 869-1176 or Gerry Myers, (407) 929-7204, or visit the site www.giftfromgodcomputerfoundation.org

patricio.balona@news-jrnl.com

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