2017 Life Logs, Day 292: Seeking Suggestions
Date: Thursday, October 19, 2017
Weather: Another Lovely but Windy Fall Day; High 67, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I realized after posting last night’s log, that although I don’t have Mark to help me figure out things, I have all of you. So tonight’s log is a call for suggestions. I have been researching satellite internet and solar power alternatives for Justin as he needs both to get back to work. Good friends, Tom Porat and David Laux, have stepped forward to help me understand what it is I am looking for as I have been unsuccessful in getting help from companies themselves. When I call the US phone numbers, the sales department people say they can’t help me because I need to talk to the offices within their company that handle Puerto Rico. When I call the numbers they give me, I either get a message saying the number is not in service right now—call at a later time. Or I get an answering machine that speaks only in Spanish. What I have been able to find out is that to purchase the equipment needed will cost somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 dollars. It is much cheaper to buy and set up in here on the mainland, but prices for Puerto Rico are much higher. This search for Justin will continue, but the same information is needed for another project. And that is the project for which I am seeking suggestions.
Justin is on a newly formed committee of sorts that is trying to find solutions to the big problems faced by everyone in the community. Justin and Jo live on the line between two towns. Their actual street address is in Aguada, but they get their mail in Rincon. Both towns have a committee seeking solutions. Both towns have a central plaza. Each town now has an official non-profit relief center established. And the newly formed committees, representing the interests of the non-profit relief center for each town, would like to set up an internet hot spot and charging station in their town plaza for general public access. This will require satellite internet and a source of power. The source of power could be a generator, but they would prefer solar. They would like to get a corporate sponsor that will foot the bill for these stations, but they have no way of contacting anyone.
My call for help tonight is to ask anyone who has any experience or expertise in gaining large donations, or anyone who just has ideas, to contact me via email or by sending a comment to this blog page. Or if you know someone who has $10,000 that really needs to be spent, please send me the phone number! But please understand that I am not asking for money donations from you. I just need your suggestions on how to proceed. And if you have no suggestions, just send me the strength to try and figure this out. So many friends have reached out to be supportive and that is what gets me through these tough days. I know a tough day for me is a walk in the park by comparison to the challenges faced in the day in the life of anyone in Puerto Rico right now. So, thank you for keeping them in your thoughts and prayers. Now get creative and send those ideas!
