Service families to get free PCs

For 100 junior enlisted military families stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y., the holiday season is starting early this year.

On Aug. 23, Operation Homelink, in cooperation with technology provider CDW Government, will present 100 refurbished computers to families of the U.S. Army 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. The computers will enable the families to communicate via e-mail with their family members serving overseas.

Operation Homelink provides free refurbished computers to the spouses or parents of junior enlisted servicemen and -women deployed overseas.

The Chicago-based nonprofit organization does not accept individual requests for computers, and it does not send one computer to an individual family. To keep costs low and maximize the number of families it can serve, the group sends computers in bulk, usually 100 or more, to families in which a member has recently deployed or will soon be deployed.

The families will receive their computers at a ceremony on the base in upstate New York.