Buffalo Area Technology Coalition to Aid In Katrina Relief Effort
Thinwires, LLC is sending a team of two wireless engineers to the Katrina Affected Gulf Coast with the support of InfoTech Niagara and BuffaloWifi.org to aid in delivering communication networks to evacuee shelters. The purpose of these networks is to provide free VoIP phone services and Internet communications to people living in the more than 300 shelters across the Gulf Coast. The team from Thinwires, LLC, a Buffalo, NY based Wi-FI provider, will be working closely with the original advance team to provide extended logistics and project coordination in the affected areas even after the trip ends. The initial effort will be in the Gulfport, MS area working with two shelters that currently house more than 4,000 evacuees.
Buffalo, NY (PRWEB) September 9, 2005 -- Thinwires, LLC is sending a team of
two wireless engineers to the Katrina Affected Gulf Coast with the support of
InfoTech Niagara and BuffaloWifi.org to aid in delivering communication networks
to evacuee shelters. The purpose of these networks is to provide free VoIP phone
services and Internet communications to people living in the more than 300
shelters across the Gulf Coast. The team from Thinwires, LLC, a Buffalo,
NY-based Wi-Fi provider, will be working closely with the original advance team
to provide extended logistics and project coordination in the affected areas
even after the trip ends. The initial effort will be in the Gulfport, MS area
working with two shelters that currently house more than 4,000
evacuees.
The team will join with a coalition of other wireless engineers
working jointly on this extended project called Community Wireless
(cuwireless.net), based out of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Campus. Six teams have already been deployed into the area, basing operations
out of a Rayville, LA farm owned by a local Wireless Internet Service Provider
in the NOLA area.
Cash donations are currently being accepted to fund a
10-day relief trip to the area and to purchase and deploy wireless networking
equipment as needed. The team, which is leaving on the morning of Saturday
September 10, 2005, will be camping in tents to keep expenses to a minimum and
will need to provide their own food and water supplies as to not further burden
the shelters they are working at. Donations will be used to cover the costs
associated with the trip with a current goal of $5000.00 in order to make all
our intentions possible. Please help in anyway you can.
Please make all
checks payable to ILDC and send to BuffaloWifi Katrina Fund c/o ECIDA at 275 Oak
Street Buffalo, NY 14203
Thanks to the gracious support of InfoTech
Niagara and BuffaloWifi.org, who will handle all contributions and administer
them to ensure that all funds are used appropriately and specifically to further
the cause. As part of the experience, the team will be taking pictures and
blogging their experience to let everyone follow the progress. A blog link will
be posted on Thinwires.com, infotechniagara.org and BuffaloWifi.org as soon as
it’s available.
For More Information, please contact:
Michael
Kasprzyk, CEO, Thinwires, LLC
716.316.7953 mobile
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If Michael Kasprzyk is unreachable due to the nature of the
trip, please direct inquiries to:
Les Hoffman, Director of Technology,
ECIDA and BuffaloWifi.org
716.856.6525
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/9/prweb282934.htm