On Thursday 21 July 2005 02:35 pm, Shawn wrote: > Hi gang. > > I attended a seminar last night (with another one tonight) with the Alberta > Gaming and Liquor Commision (http://www.aglc.gov.ab.ca). It looks as though > CLUG *MIGHT* qualify for a casino. I'm looking into this further. > > The last casino payout to organizations that had taken part in the program was > in the neighborhood of $70K. The amount is not guaranteed, and cannot be > depended on, but it's still likely to be a good chunk of change. The > question that then comes out of this is "What does CLUG want the money for?" > > So, I'd like to invite everyone to discuss ways CLUG might use a large amount > of money. Anything is fair game here, as we are just speculating. But if we > proceed with getting access to a casino, we'll have to be able to state > explicitly what the cash will be used for. Of course, there are some things > that would not qualify (anything that benefits an individual is pretty much > out), but that's what these seminar's are for, and we can filter out > non-qualifying items later. > > My thoughts on the use of the cash: > - Promotion of CLUG (i.e. TV/Radio commercials, professional promotion, etc.) > - Financing prominent guest speakers > - Possible purchase of a facility for CLUG > > What are your thoughts? > > Shawn > > (PS. I'm attending these seminars with the Avro Museum > (http://www.avromuseum.ca) where I am also a board member. But I'm always > looking for ways to improve CLUG.) > Here are my comments, for what they are worth: If you were to get a load of cash, we would have to spend it (for something worthwhile mindyou). Here is an idea. Buy computers for people in the community that can not afford them. Line this up with the mandate the gov has to educate the general public on computers. If they owned them, would some people be tempted to sell them for money. If we could setup a way to do it, I could see loaning the computers to people indefinitely till they demonstrate they are making effort to use it. Then turn it over to them. (it is theirs) Did I mention they will be operating Linux and have lots of free (Open) usefull software on them. They will need lessons on how to use the computer, so who will teach them OpenOffice -- etc. etc?
One of the main reasons it would be important to spend it to benefit the poor, is that gambling is attractive to the poor (want to get rich on the gable) who now have no money for food for their family, but can now play and work on the computer we supply. Sorry for playing devil's advocate here, but I think we should think this through before thinking of amassing money from a casino or another form of gambling. To actually pull this off and get the desired result could turn out being a mammoth undertaking. I also know a good resource person who has much experience in this with a non profit organization. I can ask if he would be willing to talk to our board, if they so wish. -- or at a meeting? Mel -- Mel Walters (Synergy with Computers) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Key fingerprint = 314D E737 4589 95A3 ED7B E766 E971 D7E7 1E22 B9F3
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