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| New Event to celebrate Diablo III Well will be hosting an event to celebrate the release of Diablo III from Blizzard Entertainment. This event will be a blast and help raise money for much needed parts that are used for the computers that we are rebuilding and giving away. Last year we gave away over 60 computers and the year before over 90. These events help raise money for power supplies, mice, and keyboards to ensure every non-profit that needs computers are able to get them. Thanks again for all your help in completing our mission. Google celebrates 30th anniversary of Pac Man - May 22, 2010
Pac-Man was a welcome change to the video game world since at the time most of the video games were space shooters. Pac-Man brought a whole new way to look at video entertainment and with it a new breed of players. No longer were video games just for nerds or geeks. Both kids and adults enjoyed the game as well attracting the attention of the girl gamer. This game was non-violent, it did not require you to blow stuff up. The colors were vibrant and the cabinet was vivid. The sounds were entertaining and addicting. The Guinness Book of World Records has even named Pac-Man as the best known video game charater on Earth. All this has come from a partially eaten pizza on a designers desk. So today please take out some time and go to the google website and play a little. I personally believe that life was meant to be played. We are supposed to have fun. Even it it is only a few hours a day. Lighthouse received another computer - Febuary 10, 2010
Letter from Boys and Girls Club – October 1, 2009
Metropolitan Orlando Urban League receives classroom – November 15, 2009
501(c)(3) status UPDATE!! - October 6, 2008 Well today we got a letter from the IRS. They have determined that SolgamesUSA is exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Also all contributions to the organization are deductible under section 170 of the Code. We are futher listed as a public charity under the 509(a)(3) Code for supporting organizations. This is also retroactive to when we lost our tax status from the National Heritage Foundation. In addition I called Dr. JT Houk who is the CEO of the NHF and he confirmed that SolgamesUSA will be refunded the amount that was in the SolgamesUSA account when the tax status was removed. Dani will work on making the request in writing and moving forward on our own. We wish to thank everyone that has supported us to get this far. We hope to continue to receive your support as we help our local community with education and computer supplies directed toward our youth and senior community. Metropolitan Orlando Urban League receives computers – September 24, 2008
Boys and Girls Club receive additional computers - September 10, 2008 As many of our readers know we have provided a number of computers to the Boys and Girls Club. It has become so useful in their daily work that they have built a computer lab for the local children to use. To that end we have provided two more computers this week to help, and we have promised to build an additional five computers as soon as them are ready. Many of these children use the computers to do their homework and to practice typing. It is really great to see these computers being used to help build our future community. We would like to thank the Boys and Girls Club for all their hard work in the community and we will always help supply them with computers for their kids. Boys and Girls Club receives two computers – July 23, 2008 Today we were able to provide two computers to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida Taft branch. These machines were loaded with educational software to work with young people teaching everything from math skills, star maps, to the periodic table. There is plenty of stuff they can learn without having to connect to the internet. The machines are ready for full classroom use as well as capable of full network functions. These computers will be the start of a five computer project to allow access to educational software as well as family friendly entertainment packages. I would like to thank Wiki, Britney, Will, and Thomas for all their hard work in getting these built and testing the new loadset for educational software. I am sure the many children that the Boys and Girls Club services will appreciate it. The Boys and Girls Club provides a positive location and staff which inspire and enable young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, the ability to realize their full potential and productive, responsible and caring persons. You can find out more at their website: www.bgccf.org. Lighthouse receives eight computers – July 15, 2008 Lighthouse of Central Florida which is well known for their services they provide to children and adults whose lives are affected by blindness or vision impairment, has received eight more computers for the use of children learning to function in the world. These computers are being placed in their homes with software that will allow the computer to talk to them and let them know where they are on the screen. Be sure to visit their website at www.lighthousecentralflorida.org. We would like to thank Britney for getting these computers ready and tested to ensure that each child has error free computer use. We also want to thank the many donors that provided parts and equipment that goes into getting these computers build and ready. New Volunteers Signup- June 15, 2008 Looks like we got two more students at UCF that are going to help us here at Solgames. Tomas and Wilbert had decided to join our team to build some computers. Wilbert has a background in the older DOS days and wishes to brush up on LINUX. Britney has done a great job of getting together the new paperwork and as of next week will be training the new volunteers and getting them ready to start building computers for the Boys and Girls Club. New Volunteer Starts - May 18, 2008 Britney Mendez joined us at Solgames Foundation to learn about building computers and to help the local community. She is a student at UCF and is one of the students referred to us through one of the UCF instructors. We are grateful to have someone like her helping build these computers. Right now we are in need of hard drives and memory. If you have some extra RAM lying around please give us a call so we can use it in a computer that will be used by a child. We have started on eight computers that are planned to be sent to Lighthouse to service blind children. New website revealed - May 5, 2008 SolgamesUSA Foundation reveals it new look today. Thanks to volunteer William "WEB" Bohm, we now have a brand new professional, fun and technical look. Along with the new logo we have new business cards, letterheads, and tri-folds to help promote SolgamesUSA foundation in the Orlando community. It is important that the community that we serve knows what services are available and how they can receive them. To that end, Dani has volunteered to handle fundraising and marketing. Her goal will to be ensure that the non-profit organizations in our community know they can receive free computers for their classrooms or entertainment areas as well as to raise enough funds to purchase components needed to complete donated computers. The old lanparty page is still available for young people that want to sign up. You can find it by clicking the square box on the upper right hand of the site. There you can find out when the next LAN event is and sign up to attend. Firm retained to apply for 501(c)(3) - May 2, 2008 SolgamesUSA Foundation retained Lori Wheeler from Multiplying Talents International Inc. for the purpose of obtaining our 501(c)(3) status. Due to complications with the National Heritage Foundation we have decided to separate from them and obtain our own 501(c)(3) status. Not only will this make it easier to receive computers as donations from companies and individuals, but it will also make available resources designed for organizations with their exemption status. Multiplying Talents International Inc. was started by Aretha Olivarez, who has made a name for herself as an expert in helping others set up their non-profit corporations. She conducts workshops & seminars, helping participants understand the nature of non-profits, and assisting with the complicated legal paperwork. The complete cost of their services was donated by one of our supporters. We have been told to expect an answer from the IRS within two to four month. Help has arrived - April 12, 2008 A few months ago I mentioned a college professor from UCF that was interested in providing volunteers to help build some computers that are to be donated to other non-profits. Well this week we got our first student from UCF. She will be available next month after exams and has a background working with non-profits. She wants to learn more about rebuilding computers from scratch and can help diagnose issues with some of the trouble machines. We are hopeful that more students from UCF hear about our program and want to help the community by rebuilding these computers that are donated 100% for free to other non-profit organizations. Monitor need covered - March 30, 2008 One of the hardest things to keep a ready supply of is Monitors. Since many of the computers that are donated don’t come with monitors, it is a rare treat to get a supply of monitors donated all at once. Thanks to Orlando Jobs.com, Great Insurance Jobs.com, and Lear and Associates we received eleven monitors at the same time. This came at just the right time to fill a major shortage we were having. These monitors will be donated to other non-profit organizations that work with kids and seniors. We are always looking for more donations from companies or individuals of either financial support or computers. We even take computers that aren’t in working order and part them out to help build complete machines. If you know of anyone or any business that is looking to upgrade their computers, please pass on the word about SolgamesUSA Foundation. We would like to thank the above companies for their generous donation. Lighthouse sends letters - March 20, 2008
Board of Directors update - January 8, 2008 The board of directors was updated today making Mr. Wade West residing President of the Board. Mr. West has a background as an experienced News Reporter and Anchor, and is now the head of American Fundraising Auctions. AFA is an organization that helps non-profits raise funds with exciting auction events. He brings a great wealth of information about how to develop a non-profit’s funding base as well as promotions with the media. Mr. Joseph Rizzo is the Vice President. Joe has an extensive background serving as the Executive Director of the Festival of Orchestras in Orlando Florida and previously serving as the CEO of the Better Hearing Institute, an Washington DC – based nonprofit advocacy organization for hearing loss. He has also served on the Central Florida boards of Habitat for Humanity, the Civic Theatre of Central Florida, and Alzheimer Resource Center, and on committees of United Way and Easter Seals. Carleta Wison was also named secretary. Carleta was the first woman Flotilla Commander of the Orlando U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and is currently a board member of the University Club of Winter Park as well as President of Timberlake Neighborhood Association. |
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As someone who grew up with PacMan and one of the games featured at SolgamesUSA I found it fitting to let everyone know that if you go to google today you can play a playable version of the game as their logo. Google has referred to the application as a doodle which was created by Senior User-Experience Designer Marcin Wichary. Pac Man was orginally released in Japan by Namco on May 22, 1980. The title was changed in the US because of youth defacing the game cabinets and change the P to an F. We have the orginal game here for kids to try and see how games got started.
Lighthouse of Central Florida recieved another computer this week with a promise of more computers this year. These computers are provided free of charge to blind students that use the computer to help with their everyday lives. It is a vital part of our organization to be able to see that the computers we give away go to people that will use it. These computers are placed into the home of a blind student and is used everyday. I want to thank everyone that helped this year and I will post a thank-you letter when it is recieved.
Today we got a letter from Gary Cain who is the president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida. He wanted to say thanks to everyone that helped in providing the computers that was used to build the new classroom at their Taft Branch. SolgamesUSA provided at least six computers and a lazer printer to help get their classroom going. Each year the Boys and Girls Club services over 12,000 youth in our comunity. They are using the computers to do homework, perform research, and to use entertaining educational software. We want to thank our donors and volunteers for helping to build this classroom. it is people like you that make SolgamesUSA what it is. We have had a request for five more computers for the Boys and Girls Club to help finish up the classroom and allow more youth to be able to do homework at the same time. So far it seems they computers are always in USE!!! That is just music to our ears.
After alot of planning and layout. SolgamesUSA was able to provide enough computers to MOUL to get a full classroom going. The purpose of the classroom is to provide training and pratice tests for students to prepare for the GED. There are many that are unable to complete their high school education. The GED tests make it possible for qualified individuals to earn a high school credential, thus providing opportunities for hundreds of students to: pursue high education, obtain specific jobs, gain promotions, and achieve personal goals. the MOUL use this as a way to help our community members obtain good paying jobs and to help support their families. With the new computer provided by SolgamesUSA and with the help of people Like William Bohm and Scott Davis we are able to ensure that the staff of MOUL have a simple easy to use system to provide the training that this community needs. We plan to add an additional ten computers before the year is completed. If we are able to acheive this goal, SolgamesUSA will have given away 100 computers in one full year.
I received a call the other day from one of the staff at the Boys and Girls Club about another organization that was in need of some updated computers. I was told they were still using the old 5 ¼ floppy drives. (over 15 years old) These computers are used to help participants of the Urban Youth Empowerment Program (UYEP) earn their GED and other studies. We offered to provide a few computers to help and found out they have a classroom setup for 23 computers but only four work. Thanks to all the hard work of our volunteers we happen to have four available machines that they could have that very day, which doubles their capabilities. The UYEP provides both education and work experience for “High Risk” out of school and/or adjudicated youth ages 16-19 in Orange County, Florida. The UYEP goal is to ensure self-sufficiency through community service, continued education and unsubsidized employment. The mission of the Metropolitan Orlando Urban League is to assist African Americans and disadvantaged individuals of Central Florida in the achievement of social and economic equality. You can find out more about then at 
We received a number of letters saying thank you for the computers we donated a few months ago. We will have them scanned and available to see online at a later date. Lighthouse of Central Florida has been receiving letters thanking them for the computers that were put in the homes of seniors and children who are visually impaired. These computers allow them to be connected to the outside world and practice some of the life improving skills taught at Lighthouse. Lighthouse has provided our computers directly in the homes of their clients. Lighthouse has been serving Central Florida since 1976. They support adults and children with low vision and blindness by providing professional rehabilitation and training programs in Orange, Seminole, and Osceola, counties. Lighthouse is the sole non-profit provider of comprehensive vision rehabilitation services in the Central Florida area. They provide rehabilitation services and outreach programs at no cost to most individuals.