Thanks to a collaborative effort by the Ft. Worth Regional Office and the Neighborhood Network Learning Center at the Sandstone Foothill Apartments, residents of the 40-unit Section 202 property for low-income elderly families are some of the first rural elderly Texans to go "high-tech" and have easy access to computer training, email and the world wide web.

From left to right, Beckie Reedy, property manager; volunteer computer instructors Vaudene Pruitt, Debbie Cann and Pat Barnes; and Louis Ybarra, from the HUD Regional Office	Sandstone Foothills residents, management staff and learning center instructors gather with community leaders and HUD officials to celebrate the newly opened computer Learning Center

With the three new computers, software and a printer provided by the Regional Office, elderly residents at the Mineral Wells development have created email addresses and are receiving and sending messages and searching the Internet for information and pleasure.

According to Vaudene Pruitt, a retired teacher who volunteered to teach seniors how to use computers, residents have quickly learned how to receive email, send replies, forward and save messages, send attachments, use spell check and change such things as print size, fonts and color format.

Residents Chris Pemberton and John Paul Scott are among the many residents who use Learning Center computers to send and receive email and surf the Internet.

Jodi Smith, service coordinator for the program, already reports a success story: a senior resident, incapacitated from a stroke some 30 years ago, uses the computer to communicate more effectively and often with family and friends, which has brightened her outlook considerably. She now spends many hours a day on the computer, and has demonstrated to other residents the positive impact of computers.

By all accounts, the learning center has become a huge benefit to residents, the property's owners and the local business community.