It was a match made in heaven: a community center in need of computer work and a high school computer class in need of volunteer work.

Rarely does life present such a perfect example of a “win-win” situation; however, that is precisely what happened this spring when students from Woodrow Wilson High School agreed to help The Wilkinson Center solve their technological troubles.

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The Wilkinson Center is a joint ministry of the East Dallas Cooperative Parish and Munger Place United Methodist Church that administers to disadvantaged families in the East Dallas area. The Center relies on gifts and volunteer efforts to provide necessities such as food and clothing to neighbors in need.

Candy Hearne, Project Coordinator at the Center, explains that recent efforts have centered on developing an employment assistance program. Says Candy, “Every morning we have volunteers who work with our clients who are looking for jobs. The volunteers assist with resume preparation, letters of recommendation to potential employers and interview preparation.”

Earlier this year, the Wilkinson Center received a number of personal computers as a donation from a company in Dallas who no longer needed them. While the Center was thrilled to have received this gift, they desperately needed guidance to learn how to best utilize this new technology.

As luck would have it, Woodrow Wilson student Will Aldredge was volunteering at the Wilkinson Center at that time and, with the help of his father Thom, initiated a mutually beneficial project linking the Woodrow students with the Center. Under the direction of their instructor, Calvin Nagy, five Woodrow Wilson students utilized their training to set up a small network for the donated computers.

Students Jaime Avila, Valery Barbosa, Will Aldredge, Jesus Sillas, and Norma Cortez worked to pull the cable, strip the cable ends, install and configure network cards, troubleshoot the cabling, and install network conflicts. Sounds a little overwhelming, doesn’t it? In addition to the invaluable professional experience the students gained, the project also helped them to fulfill volunteer hours needed to graduate.

The Wilkinson Center is putting the 12 new computer workstations to good use. “Our new computer lab is fitting in very nicely with our efforts in employment assistance,” says Candy. We are offering computer classes to both adults and children to help them raise their skill level, which will improve their chances of finding employment.

“This is a wonderful addition to the Wilkinson Center, and we definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it without the kids from Woodrow Wilson!”