FOOD BANK AND COMPUTERS

Synonyms: Replacing “problems ” with “challenges” and “opportunities”.

Here is a special story about Celia, who is a valuable team member at the Alpha and Omega Community Center and a Sister in Christ at the Alpha and Omega Church.

Celia helps with the AOCC Food Bank and in many other ways as well. Several months ago, she inquired about getting a laptop. Certainly. She and several others, including Jackie, Ana, and Fidel, starting coming on Friday mornings to work on English and learn to use the computer.

Celia is retired and originally from Puerto Rico. We started with computer basics, which included gaining the manual dexterity of using a mouse.

One problem for

Celia and the others is that they didn’t have internet access at home, but Celia seeks “solutions”. I suggested using the words “challenges” and “opportunities” instead of “problems”.

I thought we might have a solution when I heard a cell phone company was offering “hot spot devices”. I signed up for hotspot devices for our class, and we patiently waited.

A highlight of our Friday morning English morning classes was sharing recipes, especially Puerto Rican and Dominican culinary favorites.

Then, we received the disappointing news that the cell phone company had cancelled the hotspot project. We continued on with our Friday classes, and Celia was becoming adept at opening the You Tube website on her home screen. I printed out the lyrics of Christian praise songs for to read for vocabulary practice, and Celia would play the song on You Tube.

Then, about two weeks ago, we found a solution to our internet access challenge. Celia had an unlimited data plan on her phone. Would that mean she could access the internet from her phone’s hotspot? YES!!!

We tried the procedure out at Alpha and Omega, and Celia wrote down the directions for connecting to her hotspot at home.

It worked! She could go to You Tube and WhatsApp from her laptop at home.

We finish up our Friday class at 12noon, and then Celia needs to scoot out to catch the bus. Her final words are, “I’m always glad to learn”.

Celia is also a great cook. For lunch she brought me a special platter of fish and pasteles.

Thanks, Celia, for your generous service at Alpha and Omega.

You Tube

Goodness of God/La Bondad de Dios