Free Geek Seattle:About

History
Free Geek Seattle formed in 2008 as a side project of the Greater Seattle Linux Users Group (GSLUG) and under the guidance of a few dedicated individuals started to gain interest and momentum. Our first community event was the 2009 Install Fest held in commemoration of Software Freedom day. This took place at the Greenwood public library meeting room and was a big success. Also, quarterly meetings were held at various locations (libraries and 3rd Place commons) to help drive the growth and direction of the organisation. By working with Free Geek Portland we were able to obtain semi-official status as a Free Geek startup with the requirement that we select a board of advisors to help guide the organisation in a more democratic manner. (See below for more details about the board). Another important event in 2010 was our computer recycling workshop held at the Seattle Green Festival. In 2011 we began to partner with Jigsaw Renaissance and shortly after they moved into the Inscape building they agreed to host our monthly workshops and quarterly board meetings there. Our first workshop was in August 2011 and since then we have seen accelerated growth as more frequent and willing volunteers show up to help, grow and learn. In early 2013 we secured our current workshop space at the Filipino Community Center of Seattle. We spent most of the year getting more interested volunteers together, learning how to use our new space effectively. 2014 - We are partnered with the Filipino Community Center to provide youth classes as a part of their STEAM Lab program, and are currently conducting workshops and informal classes during our regular Saturday volunteer sessions. Donations and volunteer participation are continuing to grow, and our programs are improving every week. We had our first substantial presence at LinuxFest NW (http://linuxfestnorthwest.org) in Bellingham. We had over 1/2 dozen volunteers manning our booth/table with stickers, brochures and made some great contacts in the PNW open source and tech community.

Future

 * Improve our donation, volunteer, and educational programs with more formal structure
 * 501c3 Non-profit status in addition to our WA state non-profit status
 * A larger and more permanent location for our operations
 * Continue to build partnerships with other tech and education-related community organizations
 * Continue to expand volunteer participation and projects

Want to help? Feel free to visit our forum and introduce yourself!

2009 Founding Members
Mark Foster

Jon Madamba

Chad Walters

Affiliations
Here are a few of the organizations we collaborate with, or otherwise support and wish to be associated with.

Filipino Community Center of Seattle (FCS)

Greater Seattle Linux Users Group (GSLUG)

Jigsaw Renaissance

3R Technology - Our current electronics recycler