Boston Charity Event: Charles River Public Internet Center

Dear Friends,

On October 17th, more than a score of local charities are joining together
with organizing sponsor Ipswitch, Inc. to host an event entitled Help Fight
Child Poverty. I believe that Help Fight Child Poverty is an ideal chance
for us to give back to the community as both a company and as individuals.
Through the support of Ipswitch 100% of donations to this event will go the
designated community organization.

One of the many organizations participating in this event is the Charles
River Public Internet Center.  Based in Waltham, Massachusetts the CRPIC is
a non-profit agency that gives both children and adults in our community a
chance for a better life, through a variety of programs stressing computer
literacy and modern job skills. It provides free computer and Internet
access, in the same way that a public library provides books.  In addition,
it serves the entire Boston suburban area with a wide range of free or
subsidized computer skills classes.  More about the CRPIC can be found at
www.crpic.org.

One unique aspect of the CRPIC is its location.  The center is built in the
19th century mill building that was birthplace of the industrial revolution
in America.  The company that originally occupied the property was a mill
operated by the Lowell family.  This firm was the first in America to pay
hourly, rather than piece work wages, with both women and men being paid at
the same rate.  In addition, this company was the first in America to have
transferable stock ownership, the first step toward today's enormous
financial markets.

While I believe that our schools (and video games) are doing a good job
promoting computer literacy among young people, there are entire generations
of our citizens for whom the lack of computer literacy is a profoundly
limiting factor. Many children in our own community lead lives of poverty
because their parents are locked into low wage jobs with little hope of
advancement or greater economic opportunity.  Given the nature of our
industry, I can think of no better cause than helping lift families out of
poverty by allowing them to share in the abundance that technology and the
financial markets have helped bring to all of us.

The Help Fight Child Poverty event will begin at 1 PM with a three mile walk
through Lexington. It's an ideal time to observe the wonderful New England
foliage.  After a visit to the CRPIC, Linda Zhang of State Street Research
and her husband John have graciously agreed to host a post-walk party at
their home in Lexington.  Having been a past guest in their lovely home I
can assure everyone that this is not a party you want to miss.

Both companies and individuals can participate through the Walk and a
variety of sponsorship opportunities. For more information on how you can
participate please see the CRPIC event webpage at www.crpic.org/walk. 
Or, download the flyer at www.qwafafew.org/boston-flyer-20041017
To encourage this participation, I'd like to proudly announce that Northfield
will be donating $5000 to CRPIC at Help Fight Child Poverty and will match
any money contributed by our many friends, up to an additional $5000.

I look forward to seeing you all in Lexington on the 17th, and sharing a
drink at Linda's in support of this most important and appropriate effort.

With best regards,


Dan diBartolomeo
Northfield Information Services,
184 High Street, Boston MA 02110
617 451 2222 Fax 617 451 2122