| When CBS4's Neighbors 4 Neighbors program needed help answering Y2K questions from the public, they looked long and hard for experts who could help computer users deal with the Millennium Bug. It's ironic that the organization which answered the call probably had the time because its computers weren't affected one bit by Y2K!
 Charlie Carlon, Rose Lynn and Curt Herrin (right) on the phones and on the air
Gold Coast Mac responded to the call for help from Neighbors 4 Neighbors, which wanted to bring in experts during the evening news between Christmas and New Years to take viewer questions about Y2K issues. GCM members volunteered, even though Macs don't really have a Y2K problem -- meaning the volunteers had to do some quick studying on the problems faced in the PC world.
Despite some initial concern, our volunteers handled the questions with ease, explaining the problems and fixes to nervous PC users, and telling the Mac users who called in they had nothing to worry about.
After the first two days of viewer calls, Neighbors 4 Neighbors said the demand for computer information was so great, they wondered if we could supply more volunteers. One night, four people from Gold Coast Mac were ready to answer the phones! Gold Coast Mac even supplied volunteers to answer the phones on New Years Eve, when other organizations said they couldn't supply people to work the telephones! No other organization appeared every night, or volunteered as many people.
By the end of the week, Neighbors 4 Neighbors and its volunteers had answered hundreds of viewer calls, with the majority of computer issues handled by Gold Coast Mac volunteers.
"I just want to thank the entire group of Gold Coast Mac volunteers for their participation in the phone bank," said Maite Padron of Neighbors 4 Neighbors. "Their knowledge and expertise was evident in every call they answered, and they were also a delight to work with."
The turnout by Gold Coast Mac volunteers was impressive, with Dave Game, Charlie Carlon, Rose Lynn, Curt Herrin, Avi Lerner, and Tatiana Chiocchetti giving their time to help others. Gold Coast Mac also got a boost from the publicity generated by the week long event. Every night our name and logo was shown in the live pictures from the phone bank, and all week long public service announcements promoting the phone bank featured the Gold Coast Mac logo.
Once again, Gold Coast Mac showed itself to be the premier computer support group in South Florida, even for PC users!
January 2000
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