“More than 100 high school students in the Poway school district [northern San Diego County, California] who lost homes in the October wildfires have received a surprise gift – iPods donated by Apple,” Michael Burge and Blanca Gonzalez report for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
“Kari Afshari, 15, a sophomore at Rancho Bernardo High, said she was told last week to drop by a classroom for pizza and was surprised when she and fellow students were handed nano video iPods,” Burge and Gonzalez report. “Bill Chiment, a Poway Unified associate superintendent, said Apple Inc. donated the iPods.”
“The company indicated it intended to put an iPod in the hands of every high school student in the county who lost a home in the fires, said Poway resident Steve Boyack, who asked Apple for the donation,” Burge and Gonzalez report. “Boyack is the husband of Poway City Councilwoman Merrilee Boyack, and the Boyack family is involved in fire relief efforts through the San Diego Community Fire Relief Team, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
“He said there were toy drives for youngsters, tool drives for fathers, and holiday drives for mothers. ‘It seemed like the high school kids were being left out,’ Boyack said. ‘Having four boys, I thought what would be nice for the kids, and I thought iPods are an accessory most kids like and can’t live without,'” Burge and Gonzalez report. “So he e-mailed Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple,” Burge and Gonzalez report.
Boyack said he didn’t hear back from Jobs, but was instead contacted by Michael Foulkes, Apple’s senior manager for state and local government affairs, who wanted the program to go countywide and “said Apple officials didn’t want any publicity,” Burge and Gonzalez report. “‘It was strictly from the heart and just wanting to help,’ Boyack said.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Feed Mertz” for the heads up.]
Thanks for the iPod, but . . .
how do I load my songs without my computer?
That was I was thinking but still, that was really cool for Apple to do that.
Wow, we so need an edit feature
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hmmm, free iPhones for all Apple employees..free iPods for unfortunate kids in the south land…that’s a whole lot of devices turning into write offs…Apple must be having one helluva year!
According to Apple, “‘It was strictly from the heart and just wanting to help,’.
People need to respect that fact and NOT turn it into a PR issue.
Those that lost their homes are truly grieving from a tragic loss of stability in their lives and Apple was attempting in a very small manner to ease the pain.
Respect.
We hear so many stories about horrid companies and their capitalistic greed. It is wonderful to hear someone we admire doing something good and not seeking any marketing publicity. Way to go!
Gman…
You supported my point exactly…. get a life if you think it was only for a write off.
A.. hat!
They came pre-loaded with:
Light My Fire – The Doors
Fire – Jimi Hendrix
Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple
Burning Down the House – Talking Heads
The Heat is On – Glenn Frey
The Flame – Cheap Trick
Ampar,
Normally I can find humor.
But this a truly tragic loss.
I’ll try to lighten up a little though and get a little giggle from your post.
“But this a truly tragic loss.”
I agree.
People often look for humor when they are down or confronted with tragedy. For some it gives them strength. And it sure beats being depressed.
Thank you for being human.
Children will be fired from the school, if they try to sell the iPod and make money off it.
They will not get $50 refund when the price of nano drops in January.
I go burned in the stock market in 2000.
Gimme!
The comments that people left on the actual article are pretty lame… If there is no publicity, they aren’t doing it for a PR stunt or anything… It’s awesome.
Teens love iPods, there is no doubt about that.
One thing though, I bet when they had that ten minutes to grab their valuables and get out of there, Mom grabbed the pictures, Dad grabbed his beer, and little Johnny grabbed his friggin’ iPod.
Now the teens have two iPods.
iamdj,
I’m sorry to hear about your loss. I was there with you, my friend.
Just curious… was your home still intact after the loss?
Lose your home… win an iPod. What do people need to lose to get iPhones??? Especially people who are living on the campus of Redmond…
“What do people need to lose to get iPhones???”
Body parts.
But to get a Zune all you have to lose is your self-esteem. And the cash.
Gotta hand it to you… that was real humor!!!
Straight from the heart! What a nice Apple!!!!!
Oops, I left one out:
Wildfire – America
“Wildfire” was Michael Murphy.
This is just a weird & strange move on Apple’s part. Apple is giving free iPods to an arbitrary set of students who lost their entire HOMES? How does this get their homes back or help them with food/clothing/shelter/etc? And why these 100 kids?
If you’re poor, starving and naked… don’t worry, you’ll get an iPod. If you’re even more desperate, you night qualify for the Zune.
Ampar’s first post almost killed me. I was eating an orange which threatened to become lodged in my nose!
I heard they were also loaded with the movies: Chariot of Fire, St. Elmo’s Fire, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and for anyone poo pooing humor: Backdraft
Cheers to Apple
“‘Wildfire’ was Michael Murphy.”
Yep. I squat corrected. Thanks.