iPods sent to fire victims

Some younger victims of October's California wildfires are receiving iPods donated by Apple, according to San Diego's Union-Tribune. Over 100 high school students from the Poway school district, specifically those whose families lost their homes, are being given third-generation iPod nanos. The idea was reportedly conceived by Steve Boyack, a Poway resident, who has been involved with fire relief through the Mormon church and the San Diego Community Fire Relief Team.

Boyack noted that although there were toy drives for kids, tool drives for fathers and holiday drives for mothers, high school students had been unintentionally excluded. He thus e-mailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who passed the word along to Michael Foulkes, the company's senior manager for state and local government matters.

Boyack and Foulkes arranged the Poway donation together, with the former suggesting that Foulkes wanted to expand efforts to the whole county. Foulkes is also said to have wanted to avoid publicity; such donations are typically, however, useful for generating goodwill, as well as creating press coverage.

by MacNN Staff