FreeGeek, a Portland, OR nonprofit that fixes up old PCs, turns them into Linux boxen, and gives them away, was robbed this weekend. The thieves took the machines that the FreeGeeks use to organize, test and upgrade the donated PCs, cutting the org off at the knees. They're calling on people to report suspicious sales of used Ubuntu laptops.
Hello, fine people. I'm writing with sad news. Last night, Free Geek, Portland's groovy technology non-profit, sustained its most major break in to date. The majority of the items stolen were laptops, a few hard drives, and LCD screens. Many doors were smashed in forcibly in the process. While our laptop program is becoming a major source of income for us, it also is a great source of needed hardware for local non-profits. This income is now gone, and local do-gooders will have to go without our free source of laptops for a few months.
So we're making a call out to the community to help us stop these thieves and prevent this from happening again. If you're offered a laptop with Ubuntu Linux installed on it in the next couple of months, give us a call at 503-232-9350. Used LCD screens, while harder to pin down as originating at Free Geek, might raise an eyebrow as well.
Thanks for your help!
Update: Steve sez, "We (the Golden Greats) arrived with our gear to be greeted with the bad news, and more bad news: the IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) was hit the previous night! The IPRC supports Portland's zine community, and I fear that they will have a tough time replacing those Macs. I haven't seen any postings or news about the break-in, but given the openness of both organizations, I would suspect the crimes are related."
I toured the IRPC just after the break-in. Spirits were high, but the sight of those empty work-tables was really depressing.
