A CHANCE TO RENEW AND RESTORE

Dear Friends,

It certainly has been a daunting road to recovery for the City of New Orleans, our member institutions, and NOETC, Inc. Faculty and staff have been displaced, learning has been disrupted, lives lost, and buildings and equipment have been ruined.

At the World Trade Center, our office took very little damage. Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina eliminated most of our external equipment, satellite dishes, transmitters and towers. As to the satellite dish and various EBS antennas, damage was significant. While site surveys have shown all of the transmit antennas, located at the various university campuses, are still intact there has been varying degrees of damage which will need to be repaired. This damage ranges from radio boxes inundated with water to broken waveguides. Antennas at the NOETC facility (WTC rooftop) did not fare well. All receive antennas at that location sustained significant damage, with the exception of Tulane University's antenna. The steerable receive antenna, which services UNO, Nunez, Delgado, and Xavier was lost completely. The antennas remain intact, but the steerable unit they are attached to is a total loss. This equipment was fabricated specifically for NOETC, and our vendor is in the process of working up an estimate for replacement. The C/Ku Band satellite unit was a total loss. Moreover, our own head-end renovations were almost complete prior to Hurrican Katrina. It appears that being without electricity and air-conditioning did little damage to our electrical equipment. The renovations have been scheduled and should be complete by the end of the winter season. As you can imagine, this will take a considerable amount of funds.

Because of this turn in circumstances, we are requesting your help through your contributions. New Orleans Educational Telecommunications Consortium Rebuild and Restore Fund will help us accomplish our current and future goals while helping us rebound from Hurricane Katrina. NOETC is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to providing technology resources to our member institutions. Further information can be found our website, noetc.org.
Contributions are tax deductible.

Through the fund, your gift will make possible supplemental services and educational support that is crucially needed for students, faculty and staff through the initial months of rebuilding.

Additionally, your gift will aid in preserving and upgrading equipment, learning resources and facilities, especially when others means are insufficent.

Please donate today.

Gifts may be mailed directly to:

New Orleans Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc.

2 Canal Street, Suite 2038

New Orleans, LA 70130

As we move forward through this tumultuous time, please let us know how NOETC may be of service. Please contact us at 504-524-0350 or susansim@noetc.org.

Let's pray that 2006 is a successful year.

Susan

Susan M. Simkowski , Ed. D.
Executive Director