Help Connect

12/07/2020

Please remember

11/02/2019

remodeled cafe

07/14/2019

June, 2019 activity report for Help Connect’s support of the Salvation Army’s Atlanta shelter.

Tony, Alex and I supported the Salvation Army during all of June.

Starting on June 3, we added a new recruit, my grandson Alex. He is 15 years old and is an IT expert. The Salvation Army was glad to have his services as were all the homeless that he helped during the following weeks.

On June 3, I suggested that Alex check out the router associated with six defective PCs, and on his own he found an Ethernet cable and jumper-ed it from a working router to a defective one. This restored operations to the 6 defective PCs that had been off -line for many weeks. We now had 13 operational PCs and able to begin our first class (1 hour) on time at 1 PM. Alex set up several new G mail addresses during the month. On PC # 6 an individual was accessed a web site that resulted in a ransom-ware attack. Alex noticed this and quickly removed the internet connection and, after resetting the PC killed all active applications thus restoring the PC to full operational status. Our printer is multi functional but we have never been able to use the scanner function. Alex took it on himself to download the printer manual and figure out what application to download to utilize the scanner. We were then used the scanner to scan a Veterans resume that was about to type it into a PC manually for online job applications

When we arrived on June 13 we found that all the PCs had been replaced with new state of the art PCs, monitors and mice running windows 10. The Local IT team, Chris and another tech were still there so we worked along side of them. We set up all to PCs to print only in gray-scale only and began to check out the printer and scanner. We found that our existing printer/scanner was not going to work on the current platform. Chris promised to return with a new printer. IT also needs to bring parts to restore 2 PCs to working order as they are missing parts.

During the month Tony and I helped set up new email accounts, help with resumes and provide VA related forms to Vets. All the homeless individuals that Alex interfaced with were very appreciative of his support. Some said they preferred his support to mine.

All the attendees were very impressed and pleased with their new PCs. Our challenge going forward will be to familiarize them with windows 10.

Comments are always welcome.

Tom

Help Connect

05/03/2019

April, 2019 activity report for Help Connects support of the Salvation Army’s Atlanta shelter.

Tony and I supported the Salvation Army for all four weeks in April. Mike T. pitched in and helped one week. During March we had to shut down the lab one day because of a lack of coverage. For the first session on each day we had more people than operational PCs (12). During the second session we averaged 10 people. We understand that new replacement PCs are on the way to the center. We would then be back up to our full allotment of 16 PCs.

In addition to repairing the Lab’s PCs and upgrading their software (installing Malware) we also rearranged the cubicles in the lab. The rearrangement was necessary because new tile was installed. You may recall the condition of the old carpet in the lab.

As new people (red dots) enter the lab, we insist that they have working email accounts. We set up, or recovered 12 accounts during April. Also, everyone must be able to use the Internet to search. This translates into searching for companies, jobs, apartments, etc.

We also helped enhance 8 resumes and uploaded them to selective job sites. We helped numerous veterans locate their military or health information.

The Salvation Army has reported that at least 150 individuals that passed through the lab were helped during 2018. By “helped” they mean that their financial outlook was greatly improved.

Comments are always welcome,

Tom

03/25/2019

As we approach the eight year anniversary of our ministry, I want to take this opportunity to update and thank all of our 25 active and inactive volunteers for all the many hours that you have contributed to Help Connect, AKA Helping Homeless Veterans. Your efforts have affected the lives of hundreds, maybe even a thousand homeless (mostly Veteran’s) lives. Our efforts have improved the opportunities for the homeless, reduced recidivism rates and maybe even saved lives.
Many volunteers ask how they can continue contributing to our cause. As a group, we have contributed keyboards, mice, flash dives, ear buds, paper and even printers. Over the years, we have remodeled the lab and repaired most of the PCs in the Labs. What we need most now, is new volunteers. So we are requesting that our alumni help to recruit new volunteers to work in the Atlanta area.
Pictures attached:
 Old lab with rugs and the clutter of center work stations.
 New lab with tile floors and less cluttered center section (special thanks to Tony Gasper and Michael Brons).
Again, thanks for all your help over the years,
Tom Chernetsky
Help Connect

03/18/2019

As we approach the eight year anniversary of our ministry, I want to take this opportunity to update and thank all of our 25 active and inactive volunteers for all the many hours that you have contributed to Help Connect, AKA Helping Homeless Veterans. Your efforts have affected the lives of hundreds, maybe even a thousand homeless (mostly Veteran’s) lives. Our efforts have improved the opportunities for the homeless, reduced recidivism rates and maybe even saved lives.

Many volunteers ask how they can continue contributing to our cause. As a group, we have contributed keyboards, mice, flash dives, ear buds, paper and even printers. Over the years, we have remodeled the lab and repaired most of the PCs in the Labs. What we need most now, is new volunteers. So we are requesting that our alumni help to recruit new volunteers to work in the Atlanta area.

Pictures attached:

 Old lab with rugs and the clutter of center work stations.
 New lab with tile floors and less cluttered center section (special thanks to Tony Gasper and Michael Brons).

Again, thanks for all your help over the years,

Tom Chernetsky

Help Connect

01/26/2019

On Jan. 24, 2019 Tony and I worked on the Lab’s PCs and the mal-functioning router. We took one of middle non-operating PCs, positions 6,7,8 & 9 (due to bad router) and moved it to the empty position #13. We located an ethernet cable and made the PC operational. We then worked on the bad router and found loose connections. We were then able to bring up the PC at position #6. Result: we now have 11 functioning PCs, with a net gain of 2.

In addition, the PC in position #10 was giving off an alarm (red light flashing and powering off). We swapped this PC with PC #8 and then took it apart to determine the cause of the alarm. We found the insides of the PC were covered with dust and dirt. Since we had no vacuum we could go no further.

01/26/2019

I supported the Salvation Army on Jan. 17. We had 12 persons the first hour, and 10 the last hour. Apparently the VA site is up and workings, as two veterans were able to file claims. I helped two people get off their flash drives by uploading their data to their Google drives. I helped write and format a resume for an individual and then sent him to their Job Readiness group for additional review. Salvation Army requested that we consider expanding our service to two days a week. I had to turn him down because at this time we do not have enough volunteers for additional coverage.

If anyone has any family, or friends who might be interested in volunteering with our group, please have them contact me. They can reach me on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/Help-Connect-237428029674945/

We are an organization dedicated to helping veterans and the disadvantaged connect with society by pr

01/26/2019

Help Connect activity report for Dec. 27 and Jan 3. On Dec 27 Peggy and I supported the Salvation Army. On Jan 3 Tony and I provided support. We all focused on developing, or recovering emails for new “red dots”. Our efforts to help our clients check their ebenefits status were hampered by the federal government’s shut down. Tony was able to help a client with a request to determine state benefits.

In addition to the Salvation Army’s push for resumes for all clients we have been requested to conduct their quarterly satisfaction surveyWe will begin this effort starting next Thursday, Jan 10.

Recognizing the need for additional volunteers I will be addressing job-networking groups starting Jan 15. If anyone has any friends that might be interested in volunteering with our group please have them contact me.

01/21/2019

Help Connect is a volunteer group that is dedicated to helping homeless veterans gain PC and Internet skills. My time with Help Connect has been the most rewarding volunteer experience of my life.

Help Connect is currently working at the Salvation Army shelter at 400 Luckie Street, which houses the largest population of homeless veterans in Atlanta. Help Connect (AKA Helping Homeless Veterans) has been partnering with the Salvation Army at their shelter in downtown Atlanta for the past eight years. Using our shared computer Lab, which contains 16 new PCs, we have been introducing PCs and the Internet to our homeless, mostly veterans. Our goal is to have everyone have an email address, resume and the know-how to search for jobs and affordable housing before they leave the shelter.

Our volunteers are mostly retired veterans and unemployed individuals in search of meaningful and rewarding volunteer activity. We are always in need of good volunteers; people with basic Internet skills to assist one or two days (Thursday 1 to 3 PM) per month. We offer the opportunity to make a life-changing contribution to individuals, including veterans who are truly in need. As an added benefit to our volunteers, we offer access to an expanded network of Atlanta IT professionals and our group’s job search professionals

You can find us on our Face book page:
https://www.facebook.com/Help-Connect-237428029674945/

If you require additional information, or would like to be considered as a volunteer please contact me at [email protected].

We are an organization dedicated to helping veterans and the disadvantaged connect with society by pr

11/28/2018

Help Connect has been serving the Atlanta community for seven and half years by working in the Salvation Army shelter teaching the homeless (majority veterans) basic PC and Internet skills. We also help the homeless find jobs. We are always looking for new volunteers with basic iT skills.

05/22/2018

Help Connect support activity, April 5 & 12 in support of the homeless at the Salvation Army shelter.

On April 5 I was supported by three new potential volunteers, Kirk, Sazid and David.

We had no internet service for both classes, Comcast had the line to the lab turned down. In spite of this, we still had students working on the PCs. Kirk helped tried to isolate the internet issues before we found our a line to the lab was down. David worked with a student planning out his resume Sazid worked with Jerry on converting his PDF resume to Word. I had sent him a text copy of his resume last week that I had converted to text. Sazid helped enhance his resume.

All in all it was a very productive session. All the potential volunteers received badges and indicated they wished to join our group. They were given access to our master schedule along with additional information on our, and the Salvation Army’s operation.

On April 12, Kirk and I arrived at the Salvation Army and found that the internet was down again, so we cut our classes short by 30 minutes. We will call Kristi, the Administrator, before traveling down again. We were able to help a few clients with resumes. Kirk took it upon himself to type and enhance a two page letter that a disabled (PTSD and more) Vietnam veteran wished to send to the VA to request additional benefits. He was very appreciate. I helped a lady set up her newly purchased portable PC in the cafeteria. Since she is part of our group I suggested that she hook her PC up to the spare ethernet position in our Lab.

In order to help our new volunteers with their job search I suggest that they Link-in with the people copied on this email. I would request that all Help Connect supporters help the new people with their job search.