Bill Blickley is a former third ward city commissioner and a local small business owner.
His wife LaVerne, a teacher, serves as an elected board member on the Grand Rapids Public Library.

The couple shares in community service through their own ministry, Wherever God Wills, a non-profit organization.

One of their latest ventures is helping close the digital divide. They place computers in the homes of low income city neighborhoods, free of charge to students in grades seven and up, in families that cannot afford them.

While no dollar amount is attached, there is a requirement to be met.

To qualify, students and their families complete 10 hours of community service at a nonprofit organization of their choice and provide proof. This requirement adds dignity to accepting the free equipment. In a sense, the person pays, not with dollars but with time.

"We do not look at what we are doing as charity," LaVerne said. "The person puts in 10 hours of community service. 

Students may choose between having  Works...* or  Office Professional ...* or  Office- Small Business ...* installed on their computers, as well as  Money...*. All programs provide tools for word processing (writing letters and school papers), spreadsheet, (doing accounting type work), and database, (organizing lists of people and things).

 Works is the program often provided on school computers and is designed to teach students how to use the computer and its programs. MS Office Professional and MS Small Business adds PowerPoint, a program for group visual presentations, and Publisher, a program for news letters and flyers.  Money helps balance the check book, keep track of household bills, and do other financial management tasks. Bill also... adds a link to a study Bible program.

Picking up the equipment is a family affair. Bill gives students and parents an hour of instruction in the basics. Parents get a password to monitor kids on line and a brochure about child safety on the information highway published by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (www.missingkids.com)

Who benefits from their work? Bill says the list is long and growing. Families who have to tutor at home because their child has

"For a "Mom and Pop" operation we are becoming an important link in education for the low income community."

(Some counselors at) the Family Independence Agency refer families. (Some counselors at) the local federal employment and training organization have begun to refer clients that cannot afford but need a computer. Nearly 85% of the new owners are African American, 10% are Hispanic and the others are (Eastern European) immigrants.

Wherever God Wills buys and accepts donated computers and software. Materials and financial contributions to the 501 (c) 3 organization are tax deductible. The couple has a wish list:  software such as  Windows* ..., Office* ..., and  Works*... meets most users needs.

"We need good printers to include with the computers that we give," Blickley said. "(Dot matrix) Printers that we can afford to include, (and students can afford to operate) are getting hard to get. Some people still have (these) printers that they are not using since they upgraded their system. We need their printer to be donated to our program.

Anyone interested in donating can call Bill and La Verne at (616) 452-2683.