Public:PET Project

People Endowing Technology Project

First you need to know I am not above begging.

My name is Janis Lilly and I run a pregnant and parenting teen program in Derry, New Hampshire. When I took this job I thought I knew what young families needed; after all I was a teen mom. I had done it. After two months, I now know that I'm in a vast sea of urgent need.

But this isnt about me. Its about them.

What I am doing is asking the kind and benevolent HParty attendees to do, is to help take part in an experiment. Reach into your closets and desks and help me help young families with new or used working laptops, digital cameras and Trac Phones.

• Why laptops? For the same reason I give away more Pack n' Plays than cribs: When you're young and poor you're usually transient. Desktops don't make sense when you're couch hopping. With a laptop, you can sit at a Starbucks and do homework. You can take notes in class. You can access information that can help you get out of a desperate situation. You can build peer support networks.
• Why digital cameras? Because the poor have as much desire to capture special moments as anyone else. Film is expensive. Cameras can also document abuse and when you're filing a restraining order, a picture may make the difference between getting one and not.
• Why a Trac phone and phone card? Abusers break phones so you cant call for help. Abusers call and call and call (the record I've seen is 120 calls in an hour with 25 messages left). Sometimes a new number buys a lot of peace.

All donations are tax deductible. All donations make you a good human. All donations will make someones life better.

But what if you don't have these things, but want to help? I need little things. A few boxes of tampons, diapers, wipes and I really like money. I really like money to pay for upkeep on these machines. I really like phone cards, gas cards, Wal-mart cards.

Maybe you just don't have the resources to spare; times are hard and getting harder. You can still help: You can stop people when they start talking about "welfare moms" as if they are subhuman. You can challenge people who say that they got into this mess and they should get them selves out of it - remind them that 26% of teen moms are moms because of rape or birth control sabotage. You can tell people who think teen moms all end up system-sucking baby-factories to go take a long walk off a short pier. Or just give them my number and I'll do it for you.

It really is this easy.

Janiselilly at gmail dot com.