Help Connect

Please remember

June, 2019 activity report for Help Connect’s support of the Salvation Army’s Atlanta shelter.

Tony, Alex and I supported the Salvation Army during all of June.

Starting on June 3, we added a new recruit, my grandson Alex. He is 15 years old and is an IT expert. The Salvation Army was glad to have his services as were all the homeless that he helped during the following weeks.

On June 3, I suggested that Alex check out the router associated with six defective PCs, and on his own he found an Ethernet cable and jumper-ed it from a working router to a defective one. This restored operations to the 6 defective PCs that had been off -line for many weeks. We now had 13 operational PCs and able to begin our first class (1 hour) on time at 1 PM. Alex set up several new G mail addresses during the month. On PC # 6 an individual was accessed a web site that resulted in a ransom-ware attack. Alex noticed this and quickly removed the internet connection and, after resetting the PC killed all active applications thus restoring the PC to full operational status. Our printer is multi functional but we have never been able to use the scanner function. Alex took it on himself to download the printer manual and figure out what application to download to utilize the scanner. We were then used the scanner to scan a Veterans resume that was about to type it into a PC manually for online job applications

When we arrived on June 13 we found that all the PCs had been replaced with new state of the art PCs, monitors and mice running windows 10. The Local IT team, Chris and another tech were still there so we worked along side of them. We set up all to PCs to print only in gray-scale only and began to check out the printer and scanner. We found that our existing printer/scanner was not going to work on the current platform. Chris promised to return with a new printer. IT also needs to bring parts to restore 2 PCs to working order as they are missing parts.

During the month Tony and I helped set up new email accounts, help with resumes and provide VA related forms to Vets. All the homeless individuals that Alex interfaced with were very appreciative of his support. Some said they preferred his support to mine.

All the attendees were very impressed and pleased with their new PCs. Our challenge going forward will be to familiarize them with windows 10.

Comments are always welcome.

Tom

Help Connect

As we approach the eight year anniversary of our ministry, I want to take this opportunity to update and thank all of our 25 active and inactive volunteers for all the many hours that you have contributed to Help Connect, AKA Helping Homeless Veterans. Your efforts have affected the lives of hundreds, maybe even a thousand homeless (mostly Veteran’s) lives. Our efforts have improved the opportunities for the homeless, reduced recidivism rates and maybe even saved lives.
Many volunteers ask how they can continue contributing to our cause. As a group, we have contributed keyboards, mice, flash dives, ear buds, paper and even printers. Over the years, we have remodeled the lab and repaired most of the PCs in the Labs. What we need most now, is new volunteers. So we are requesting that our alumni help to recruit new volunteers to work in the Atlanta area.
Pictures attached:
 Old lab with rugs and the clutter of center work stations.
 New lab with tile floors and less cluttered center section (special thanks to Tony Gasper and Michael Brons).
Again, thanks for all your help over the years,
Tom Chernetsky
Help Connect

Help Connect is a volunteer group that is dedicated to helping homeless veterans gain PC and Internet skills. My time with Help Connect has been the most rewarding volunteer experience of my life.

Help Connect is currently working at the Salvation Army shelter at 400 Luckie Street, which houses the largest population of homeless veterans in Atlanta. Help Connect (AKA Helping Homeless Veterans) has been partnering with the Salvation Army at their shelter in downtown Atlanta for the past eight years. Using our shared computer Lab, which contains 16 new PCs, we have been introducing PCs and the Internet to our homeless, mostly veterans. Our goal is to have everyone have an email address, resume and the know-how to search for jobs and affordable housing before they leave the shelter.

Our volunteers are mostly retired veterans and unemployed individuals in search of meaningful and rewarding volunteer activity. We are always in need of good volunteers; people with basic Internet skills to assist one or two days (Thursday 1 to 3 PM) per month. We offer the opportunity to make a life-changing contribution to individuals, including veterans who are truly in need. As an added benefit to our volunteers, we offer access to an expanded network of Atlanta IT professionals and our group’s job search professionals

You can find us on our Face book page:
https://www.facebook.com/Help-Connect-237428029674945/

If you require additional information, or would like to be considered as a volunteer please contact me at [email protected].

Help Connect We are an organization dedicated to helping veterans and the disadvantaged connect with society by pr

Help Connect has been serving the Atlanta community for seven and half years by working in the Salvation Army shelter teaching the homeless (majority veterans) basic PC and Internet skills. We also help the homeless find jobs. We are always looking for new volunteers with basic iT skills.