At NTIA, Power helped run a $4 billion grant program to expand broadband access, $17 million of which went to the Freedom Rings Partnership in Philadelphia, where 41 percent of residents have no connection to the Internet.
The computers, donated by businesses, law firms, universities, and individuals, had been scrubbed of memory and partially restored by experienced technicians. The volunteers Monday were charged with the final assembly. These 100 machines are the first of 5,000 that will be given away over the next two years to residents of public housing, along with training on how to use them.
"It's so great to come to this event and see the work I've done at my desk come to reality," Power said.
Guided by a sheet of complicated instructions and an experienced computer technician, he and Jose-Perez slipped a hard drive into place and fumbled to slide a thin, green metal plate into its proper slot.
Mayor Nutter, who had also volunteered for the computer project, confessed that he was afraid he might not be up to the task.
"Whatever computer I'm working on, I want to make sure someone who knows what they're doing looks at it afterward," Nutter said.
The project, he noted, is in keeping with the spirit of Dr. King's ideals. "The computer is your passport not only to the future, but to knowing what's going on around you," he said. "This is what freedom is all about. It's about access."
At the French International School of Philadelphia in Bala Cynwyd, students from preschool through eighth grade made soup, packed book bags, and drew valentines to benefit nearly a dozen charities and causes.
Many of the classroom supplies and pocket games were destined for Haitian children, just days after the first anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the island.
