COMPUTER LAB INSTALLED
AND READY FOR USE

January 20th, 2006

As Ukraine continues to struggle with its evolving into a modern European nation, technology continues to play a more and more active role in that evolution.  Teenagers studying at trade and technical schools are taught basic computing skills from books as the schools lack the funding to purchase and maintain computers and other technology equipment.

This has concerned us because we see the need for the teens living at the Transitional Living Center to know basic computing skills in order to better their lives.  These basic skills will provide them with the ability to enter management positions rather than basic blue collar positions in the work force.  These basic skills will allow them to continue their education at a higher level through studies at an institute (similar to an American junior college)  or university.

It has been a dream for the past two years to have a computer lab within our facility.  This would allow us to teach the teens living at the Transitional Living Center as well as other teens who are orphanage graduates.  Through having other teens use the lab, it brings them to the local church building (which is where we are located) for their computer class.  It gets them away from the trade school dorm environment and into a cleaner, more hospitable, Christian environment.  It is our hope that this computer lab will be more than technology instruction, but will be a tool to help us share the message of Jesus Christ with more teenage orphanage graduates.

This month, Prestoncrest Church of Christ made a generous donation of $8,000 to make that dream become a reality.  Because of their gift of love, we were able to purchase 8 computers as well as the desks and chairs for the computer lab.  It has been a busy week as workers have come in and out to install the computers after Andrew and Lance spent Tuesday building the desks.

We are grateful for this gift and hope to have the computer lab ready for operation beginning in August.  We also hope to have a technology teacher living here at the Transitional Living Center by the beginning of the new school year.