High School Kids need photo gear

[bob carnie]

Hi Folks
moderators if this is the wrong area please change.

I have been fortunate to meet a very keen high school instructor of photography, who in fact is on this forum.
He teaches at Georges Vanier Secondary School here in Toronto.
I have gone to his school to see the facilities and very impressive indeed considering the budget he has to work with. I am sure it is the same everywhere.

We have donated a bunch of gear to this program and I am asking anyone here with a good heart and excess darkroomgear/paper/computer/cameras that they may consider getting in touch with him to make sure it gets into good hands, I know it would be treasured and used by young hands.
I have sent over a 8x10 Deveere and 4x5 Condensor Omega with a lot of analoque darkroom gear.
As well a Epson 9600 and Epson 7600 .
I will be sorting out lenses and such for both enlargers to give to them , but I know they need anything that works with these four pieces of larger gear.
Also of need is cameras digital or analoque, lights and studio stuff.

What is also cool about this teacher is his commitment to both principles (analogue and digital) and any gear that is duplicated , he is filtering it to other schools who can and will use .
For now you can email me and I will forward all offers to him.
bob@elevatordigital.ca

[snuck]

First and foremost on behalf of Georges Vanier Secondary School, I'd like to come out and thank Bob for his donation to our school. I am the teacher he's talking about. As a high school teacher, there is some risk that I am revealing who I am via online communities but at this moment, I just do not care. We are incredibly honored and privileged to have Bob's support. Bob, your donations will be transformative, and no one will appreciate these things more than the students.

Georges Vanier is a very special place. On one hand it is a place where art is flourishing: Home to the Program2Art digital/classical art programme, we have some of the brightest and best students in the Toronto Board. However we also are located in one of the most economically depressed areas of Toronto. Most all of our students are displaced. A visit to my classroom on any given day can reveal a Afghani student who only has his mother to support him, a student who fled Iran with his father after security forces almost killed him, a Syrian girl, who has barely seen a computer let alone used one, a Japanese student who can barely speak English, a rough and tumble student from Ghana, a large goofy softly spoken Chinese Canadian student, A brilliant student from Ukraine who is fantastic at both physics and the arts, and any number of Chinese exchange students of different dialects. Most of our students cannot afford to visit a pro-lab, let alone own any of the equipment that we have received, which is what makes this special.

In this confluence of different identities that make up Georges Vanier, there is unmistakable creative energy, thirst for knowledge, and drive to perform. Our students are fantastic, and landing what amounts to an art imaging studio upon them is truly unprecedented. I simply can't wait for their eyes to bug out in September when they see what we've received.

Thank you Bob, all I can think is: What a way to tell our students: "This is the way we do things here; welcome to Toronto."

Victor Samou Wong

[ASRafferty]

Gentlemen... I have some rather severe limits in terms of what I need to do about the equipment in Ted's estate, but I believe a lot of the paper that several manufacturers sent him to review is fair game to be donated to what sounds like a wonderful program. I have both rolls and sheets of all sorts, and absolutely no idea what would be of use to these students. If you'll e-mail me, I'd be happy to work with you on getting to you what I can offer that will be helpful.

Thanks,
Amy

[Allen in Montreal]

Dear Victor,

I have a fair pile of odds and ends that I have built up over the years that you are welcome to. Nothing as lavish as the Deveere !! Bob that was incredibly kind of you to donate that piece.

I do have some timers, 4 up stainless 4x5 racks, safe lights etc.
I will get together a list for you and just let me know what you do and do not want and I will ship it up to.

My high school had a very modest darkroom that was available to me, and although I did not fully realize at the time, it made a huge difference for me.

best regards,

Allen

[snuck]

Thank you both, I will message.