Police Agencies Wrap, Deliver Computers To Children In Need

By Lori Fullbright, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- The Annual North Pole Computer Project is underway. The goal of the project is to provide refurbished computers to children in need.

Area police officers gave Santa a helping hand today for the seventh annual North Pole Computer give-away.

A non-profit group started by the late Tulsa Officer Glenn Deweese, refurbishes computers throughout the year and officers deliver them to families in need, just in time for Christmas.

The Tulsa Police Explorers wrapped the computers to be delivered.

There are 74 of them, complete with a monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers and power cords.

Many of them were donated by ORU and Saint Francis Hospital.

The hard drives are wiped clean and then operating systems and educational games are downloaded onto them by volunteers with Tulsa PC Power.

Officers from Bixby, Broken Arrow, Sand Springs and the Tulsa County Sheriff's office helped deliver computers to families in their areas.

Captain Karen Ford, TPD, said, "We see it as a very important deal, to stay in touch with the community and have a good partnership with police and the community."

The families are identified throughout the year by school resource officers with the help of teachers and counselors.

Tulsa officers donated to a family who lost their home during Katrina and moved to Tulsa.

The school told police Robert Coleman works and makes enough only to cover essentials, not extras.

His wife Donna and their four kids, ages 17, 10, eight and six were very excited.

Donna says the kids will use the home computer to do their homework, which will help them excel at school and not fall behind their classmates.

She was very appreciative.

"We are so grateful. Thank you so much," Donna said to officers as they delivered the computer.

Donna says the computer will remain under the tree until Christmas morning, then, her children experience the joy of having a computer at home, thanks to the generosity of others.