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[kirish43]

Here's a thought! When you get the cash back take it over to your local school and ask that it be spent on technology. Schools are non-profit and you would make them jump for joy!

[mattd]

Yeah, but now I have to track down another charity to give to. I gave the Give part in honor of my grandfolks and they really liked the idea. I'll look into the nets thing, but was hoping for something more kid oriented.

i suppose i'm stating the obvious, but since the current state of affairs wasn't your intention, you could just give $200 back to OLPC -- after being sure your paypal funds are real, of course.  ;-)

paul

Here ya go rameger. http://laptopfoundation.org/en/participate/

OLPC is still a worthy cause even if they've massively bungled G1G1.

[rameger]

Thanks for all the pointers! I like the school idea. I wonder if I could just go out, get a bunch of winter kids coats, and donate them to a shelter. Or would they rather have the cash?

As for giving back to OLPC... Eh, fool me once and all that. This is an example of how donor treatment can impact your bottom line.

[kirish43]

Make a phone call to your local school district. NCLB has sucked funds away from kids and into paper work- Your local school will know best what it needs. A few years back we had so many kids behind on their part of the "Reduced" lunch budget that they wouldn't provide them with more than a cheese sandwich. We took up a collection in the teachers lounge, had a ebay garage sale, and managed to bring the accounts up to date and get lunches for them for the rest of the year. There is poverty in America as well.

Before I switched to teaching computer I was a classroom teacher. My last year in the classroom I bought 10 coats for my kids. (Steve and Barry's 10.00 per coat) That is out of a classroom of 29. I bought socks every week at the grocery store, and managed to get those little things on your feet from donations at my childs school. Mittens-I bought in bulk- those little one pair for a dollar kind. I can't tell how happy the kids were to get socks! Organizations often donate hats and mittens--socks and those little things on your feet are the real hot items. A pair of warm socks warms the hearts of the little ones. My second graders even washed their own socks out at night and dried them on the register. Most of  my parents didn't have washer dryers and going to the laundry is very expensive. I know socks might sound silly- but they were always treasured by my kids. Just a thought!

[huttarl]

I got the same apology. 45 to 60 days? Sigh. OK.

Now, when I check status via http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/shipping-information.php, I get a new message I haven't seen before:

Your donation is ready to be shipped and is in our shipping queue. Please check back with us every few days for updates If you have received this same response after several days (2 weeks or more) please contact Donor Services to verify your shipping information

Hopefully that's a good sign.

Speaking of the laptopgiving.org web site, I'm starting to feel sorry for that African girl with an XO laptop on her head. The picture is cute, but I'm starting to associate her face with a series of vague and unfulfilled promises about laptop delivery.

[goney3]

Huttarl, 20,000 of us are waiting till March for new inventory. I wouldn't expect anything until then. By Walter Benders numbers there are about 16,800 that were put into a "monthly batch" or got a truncated address during ordering. OLPC thought that they only had 60,000 orders, when in reality it was 84,000. Quanta didn't make enough laptops and now they are on their way from the factory. Now we get to wait for them to arrive and then get shipped.

You are not alone in this.