Posted by Briland Modem Fund on March 28, 2002 at 14:49:47:
Hey there --
Please keep the not-for-profit Briland Modem Fund in mind as you decide where to target your philanthropic efforts this year!
The Briland Modem Fund was established in 1999, after Hurricane Floyd severely damaged many homes and infrastructures on Harbour Island, one of the Family Islands of the Bahamas. Our immediate goal was to provide assistance to the residents of Harbour Island in need of home repair, as the devastation caused by that Class 4 hurricane surpassed the emergency resources of the Bahamian Government. The Fund’s first order of business was to get the word out through its sister site, the Briland Modem located at www.briland.com, which launched with an online messageboard that provided valuable communication at a time when information was critical. Bahamians and winter residents traded messages about the welfare of family and friends, and VHF to Web relay teams got news from the island to Brilanders around the world in a matter of hours and days, instead of weeks. The Briland Modem Fund appealed to the wide audience of the Briland Modem board and successfully raised $25,000 for home and infrastructure repair for uninsured local homes. The Briland Modem then successfully launched its full-fledged online community portal in September 1999, and now boasts an audience of 65,000 unique site visits per month.
For the past three years, the Briland Modem Fund has been actively engaged in a variety of community development endeavours, from its ongoing campaign to provide and maintain community technology centers for the children and adults Harbour Island and North Eleuthera, to its support of the Every Child Counts developmental education program, fundraising for the much-needed Harbour Island fire truck and replacement of the beloved Fig Tree lost during Hurricane Floyd. 100% of all donations have gone to support these programs.
The popular demand for such workshops has underscored our drive to expand available resources, and the Briland Modem is dedicated to supporting the goals of the people of Harbour Island and North Eleuthera so that every interested student and adult in these communities has an opportunity for computer literacy. Although we can always use Pentium PC computers, monitors, printers and software to expand the regional centers on Harbour Island and North Eleuthera, the fact is that we also need funds to support these centers. [Our most recent computer support bill for maintaining the Harbour Island center computers alone was $4,450.] The centers have been able to bring in enough revenue to cover their monthly supplies and Internet access costs, but look forward to your ongoing support to expand these programs. We're especially grateful to our corporate sponsors, IBM Nassau, The Amoury Company and The Royal Bank of Canada for their ongoing support.
We look forward to working with you. Please mail your checks to the Briland Modem Fund, 10153 Riverside Drive, Suite 244, Toluca Lake CA 91602. Your donation is tax-deductible, as the Fund is a not-for-profit organization. Please e-mail info@briland.com with any questions or comments.
Regards,
The Briland Modem Fund
Kimberly King-Burns, Executive Director
Glenroy Aranha, Director
Richard Haskell, Director
Sharon King, Director