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Happening ... in the Local Church
 Our
Lady of Grace parishioner Helen Smith looks over a computer system with
Deacon Mark Miller. (Photos by Caroline B. Mooney) |
 Deacon
Mark Miller works on a donated computer. “This provides a nice
opportunity for people to extend their treasure back out into the
community,” he says. |
By Caroline B. Mooney
The
Catholic Moment
NOBLESVILLE — Looking for a way to help his parish community, Deacon Mark Miller turned to one of his gifts — working with computers. He put out a call for members of Our Lady of Grace Church to donate used computer components to be rebuilt and sold at a minimum fee to parishioners in want of a system.
“Part of the diaconate ministry is trying to find needs in the community and respond to them,” he said. “Our parish has such strong ministries in place that I was looking for something the community needed that I could bring some talents to.”
Deacon Miller said he is self-taught in the computer field, having “started with computers in the early 1980s when I was in the Air Force. From working with personal computers, I went to systems administration, using the UNIX operating system which was the beginning of central administration.”
Seed money for the program came from Our Lady of Grace’s tithing.
“Older systems need additional memory, and I buy that to install on donated systems,” he said. “The baseline price for our rebuilt systems, including a monitor, computer, keyboard, mouse and printer, is $95. In order to keep the price down in systems going out, instead of installing Microsoft Windows, I use a free operating system called Ubuntu.
“When I had mentioned my idea, a friend recommended Ubuntu, saying it’s rock solid,” Deacon Miller said. “I put it on my own computer, used it from August until December and never shut off my computer. I never had any problems, and it’s all free.”
Ubuntu comes with a software suite that looks like Microsoft Office and saves and reads Office files. There is a spreadsheet, data shop, and a drawing program equivalent to Photoshop. All anyone needs is an Internet connection.
“These systems could be good for not just people out of work, but those who can’t afford a system for their kids,” he said. “The cost of ownership is very economical and Ubuntu is very forgiving.”
Another parishioner, Bob Campbell, helps troubleshoot the donated parts.
“I have helped friends and neighbors fix their computers,” said Campbell, an electrical engineer. “It’s been a hobby for the last 15 years. I saw Deacon Mark’s notice in the bulletin and thought he could use some assistance. I was really surprised to see how many computers had been donated.
“Some computers can’t be salvaged, but we get some parts out of them,” he said. “Often, we just need to put in a bigger memory or a new hard drive.
“I think this is a great program,” Campbell said. “A lot of people can’t afford to spend $500 to $700 on a brand-new computer, and then, you could spend that much more in adding software.”
“I’m a computer novice,” said Helen Smith, a member of Our Lady of Grace who came to pick up a computer system. Her previous computer experience has been playing Solitaire.
“I am interested in searching the Web and using e-mail,” she said. “I had opportunities before when each of our children had given us their cast-off computers. But they’re both working full-time, have families, and didn’t have time to show me how to use the computer.
“I have taken three sessions at the library on using the Internet,” she said. “Our instructor talked half the time and taught the lingo, but we didn’t get too much hands-on experience. I was wishing we had.
“I thought about it and decided I would do it, and get a system,” Smith said. “An eighth-grade student at Our Lady of Grace might help me while getting service hours. There are also four computer sessions for seniors in August at the library. I am trying every avenue. I want to feel comfortable before I invest a lot in a system.”
“I don’t want to just give people a computer and send them home,” Deacon Miller said. “I set it up here and then go through everything with them. If they need it, I can set up an e-mail account before they leave. If they get home and have questions, they can always call me.”
His main concern was the cost of ownership, and with that handled, he said the ministry’s biggest problem is storage. In late July, he had 12 computers, 22 monitors, 15 keyboards and two laptops to be serviced.
“We check out all equipment on the bench when we get it,” he said, “and so far, it hasn’t been too time-consuming. We don’t stop to think that there is still a percentage of people who don’t have a computer. Many of us have a computer sitting in the basement and don’t know what to do with it. We don’t want to throw it away because it still has life in it. This provides a nice opportunity for people to extend their treasure back out into the community.”