Apple gives free iPods to kids affected by California wildfires

It's a small, small consolation, but Apple has donated free iPod nanos to over 100 kids in a California school district who lost their homes in the recent wildfires. Affected high school students in Poway, California, received the devices after Steve Boyack, husband of a Poway city councilwoman, noticed that fundraising and gift drives organized by the city targeted mainly young children and older folks and decided to write Steve Jobs an email at his famously public email address. Steve didn't write back, but Michael Foulkes, Apple's senior manager for state and local government affairs, soon had the iPods on their way. Apple being Apple, it's declined to comment on the story, and Boyack says the company didn't want any publicity to begin with, saying, "It was strictly from the heart and just wanting to help." Love or hate Apple, you've got to respect them for trying to provide at least a little holiday cheer.

[dizzy @ Dec 4th 2007 6:42PM]

it's a nice gesture and all, but what if those people didn't have the foresight to carry out their computers filled with music in the evacuations?

[paul34 @ Dec 4th 2007 6:47PM]

Well, it's very convenient, you see. Just head to your nearest Apple store, buy an iMac, and repurchase your entire music collection via iTunes!

Must just be sheer coincidence.

Anyway, in non-cynical comments, I suppose these kids can at least sell them on eBay and use the cash towards trying to piece together their broken existence. I truly wish the best to these guys. Definitely tough.

[moo083 @ Dec 4th 2007 6:49PM]

Well, if its from iTunes, then they can request the Tunes to be sent to them again. Apple usually lets you do this once, and if you explained it to the Support person, I'm sure they would be happy to do it.

[BigBirdUK @ Dec 4th 2007 6:58PM]

I hear that the iPOD's will be pre-filled to the brim with great "toonz" like "Burn Baby Burn", "Ring of Fire", "Eternal Flame".

Ah how Apple warms the heart.

[Alex Padilla @ Dec 4th 2007 7:40PM]

@BigBirdUK

you're a dick

[BigBirdUK @ Dec 4th 2007 7:44PM]

@Alex - if so, you'll never get to suck me!

[Ryan Karolak @ Dec 4th 2007 7:58PM]

Sure they'll need to get a new computer and music, but a gift is a gift. I don't see how you can complain about that. I don't think it's fair to say that Apple gave them iPods so that the kids would go buy Macs and buy music on iTunes. That's ridiculous.

[i.c. weiner @ Dec 4th 2007 8:49PM]

@bigbirduk

"if so"? you don't sound very sure that you have a dick...

[LordFarkward @ Dec 4th 2007 8:52PM]

if even i.c weiner can't see if bigbirdUK has a dick or not, i guess no one else can.

[david @ Dec 4th 2007 8:55PM]

alot of people didnt recive the reverse 911 calls we did but we only had a few minutes to evacuate luckly the fir stopped about 100 yards away from my house

[islander619 @ Dec 5th 2007 7:47AM]

Very generous of Apple to ease the pains of kids that used to live in $600,000 homes.

[jessy @ Dec 7th 2007 5:47AM]

i feel so bad for those people, they get such a terrible product after a tragedy. apple, your humor is sickening

[Russell @ Dec 4th 2007 6:45PM]

As nice as that is of Apple, how exactly is one supposed to get music onto an iPod if their computer burned up? Not to mention the hard drives with their Limewire shared folders - er, CD collections I mean.

[Carlos @ Dec 4th 2007 8:30PM]

If they had computers before the fire its a safe bet that they will buy a new computer rather than live the rest of their life without one.

Last time I checked iPods work with Macs or PCs so I don't understand what the big deal is.

[madchinamando @ Dec 4th 2007 6:45PM]

Nice gesture by apple, but what's the point? if they might not even have computers...

[jon @ Dec 4th 2007 6:45PM]

Thats nice but where are they gonna get the computer to sync it to if there houses were destroyed.

[CharityBeginsAt... @ Dec 5th 2007 8:10AM]

Yeah, and for that matter, why donate food to a homeless shelter? I mean, you may be donating a can of corn, and those people may not even like corn. So why do it?

I sincerely can not believe the logic of some of the people here. Someday you'll suffer a tragedy, hopefully you remember your views today.

[madchinamando @ Dec 5th 2007 2:25PM]

Ah you see, an iPod nano is not a NEED. Corn can feed people, even if they don't like it, they can need it simply because it is food. If I was starving, I wouldn't dare choose what foods I eat or don't eat. It LOOKS like Apple donated those nanos so that the families might look into Apple computers to replace their burnt ones...seems like a nice PR thing to me, even if they didn't comment on it.

Apple, nice gesture, but donate computers first. Then donate nanos. How about both?

[bethel03 @ Dec 4th 2007 6:46PM]

Thank goodness for Ebay!!

[Joel @ Dec 4th 2007 6:47PM]

AAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW

[anthone @ Dec 4th 2007 6:47PM]

this just shows u that apple products are as cheap as ashes from those burnt houses.

free ipod? more like an attention to get the media on their products.

[mushrooshi @ Dec 4th 2007 6:52PM]

Goes to show you don't have an education.

Remember kids, "U" isn't a word!

doo u git it, oar doo I neeeeed 2 giv u ur retard armor!

[anthone @ Dec 4th 2007 7:00PM]

Sweetie, I'm not writing a book report for you or anyone on this website. I am just commenting an article. As long as I could get my message acrossed the web, Eye kood type lyke diz eNd yu wood still underztand meeh.

[Jonhimslf @ Dec 4th 2007 7:07PM]

I could certainly understand you, but a) it makes you look dumber than you probably actually are and b) I'm less likely to actually care about your opinion. What is it, two extra letters? Are you really saving that much time by typing 'u' instead of 'you'? Also, it's "attempt" not "attention"

[CraigJ @ Dec 4th 2007 7:08PM]

"more like an attention to get the media on their products." Did you read the story? "Apple being Apple, it's declined to comment on the story, and Boyack says the company didn't want any publicity to begin with"

[Prokanda @ Dec 4th 2007 9:57PM]

@ GraigJ:

Yeah... but what you might not have noticed is.... they failed to comment, yet engadget wrote up a whole story that YOU'RE HERE COMMENTING ON.

So they still got the publicity.

Make more sense now?

[JDizzle @ Dec 4th 2007 10:31PM]

@Prokanda

Because I'm sure the kids would rather not have the iPods than let Apple get a little publicity.

[BigD145 @ Dec 4th 2007 6:48PM]

Didn't these used to be banned in some schools in CA? I know cell phones are and kids do listen to ipods in class. I remember a Poway parent that spoke about these things in an article not too long ago.

[david @ Dec 4th 2007 8:48PM]

no we are allowed to use them during breaks and lunch at poway high

[Zondajag @ Dec 4th 2007 6:48PM]

um i was just about to say the jist of all of the above comments, but they beat me to it...to sum up, i agree with the above statements from the other commentors

[Matthew Hilario @ Dec 4th 2007 6:52PM]

San Diego Super Chargers!

[Alan @ Dec 4th 2007 6:52PM]

[e-mail]

[mars @ Dec 4th 2007 8:02PM]

Thanks, captain obvious!

[jason carlton @ Dec 4th 2007 6:56PM]

It's safe to rationalize that people will be replacing computers and will eventually want another mp3 player... hence this is a nice, human gesture.

It's very concerning that like 4 of you people all had the same asinine reaction to a solid act of humanity.

If DirecTV gave them free service for a year would it be an insincere or meaningless gesture? Would it be 1) helpful and 2) encouraging to, eventually, focus again on rebuilding a normal life?

You people suck balls.

[David Piatek @ Dec 4th 2007 7:02PM]

Definitely the best non-smartass remark so far. I agree, whether you love or hate Apple, it was a very nice gesture on their part. I feel sorry for all the families that were impacted by the fires.

[BigBirdUK @ Dec 4th 2007 7:11PM]

How many iPods shipped to Bangladesh Cyclone victims, out of interest?

(....and yes I know the likelyhood of them having a computer in the first place is significantly lower, but surely it would encourage them to pop down to the local PcWorld or similiar, surely etc etc etc)

[mlb @ Dec 4th 2007 7:12PM]

I completely agree. Bottom line is in a worst case scenario they can plug it into one of their friend's computers and get some tunes that way. Like you said, at some point hopefully they will get another computer and have a nice shiny iPod waiting to be used on it. It was very cool of Apple to hook these kids up.

[Ruben @ Dec 4th 2007 7:27PM]

Am I the only one that doesnt were iGlasses?


Isnt it evidently clear that these iPods are being funded by their advertising budget?

[BigD145 @ Dec 4th 2007 7:41PM]

Giving television to people that lost their homes? Yes, I would be deeply offended. "You lost your home? Here's 500 channels of advertisements to make up for it." ...Moron.

[Carlos @ Dec 4th 2007 8:30PM]

@BigBirdUK - you sir are an idiot -

Did you even read the story - "Steve Boyack, decided to write Steve Jobs an email at his famously public email address." Apple does not proactively provide disaster relief and it wasnt for PR since they did not send out a press release about it.

I know it may be confusing to you but Apple is not a charity and does not hand out iPods to disaster victims on a daily basis. They are not the RedCross and should not be expected to repond to every single disaster around the world, thats just stupid.

They are actually a business and made an exception this one time as a good will gesture to local Californians, thats all.

Whens the last time any of you gave time or money to charity you freakin losers.

[BigBirdUK @ Dec 4th 2007 9:41PM]

Carlos,

It's PR, and of the viral flavour imho. I'm allowed to have an opinion, and you are allowed to disagree. Beyond that, your petty childish rants say more about your slavish devotion to Apple then they do your ability to debate a point constructively.

3rd gen and current gen nano before you call me an Apple hater.........

[Carlos @ Dec 4th 2007 10:23PM]

@BigBirdUK

My post was all about how off base your post was - has nothing to do with wether you or I are Apple fans/haters.

Apple responded to an e-mail, thats all - why would you expect them to do anything about "Bangladesh Cyclone victims" Apple is not set up for disaster relief.

Even if this is PR its PR about giving - in my opinion any news about people or companies giving is good news no matter the motive. Hell if it drives others to give isn't that a good thing? Better than another story about how someone shot someone else.

I know your trying to be cynical but you can do better than attacking a news story about giving to others. Even if it was PR driven guess what 100 kids still got some iPods after their house burnt down, thats more than either of us have done individually.

[SteveMB @ Dec 4th 2007 10:49PM]

Carlos, do you honestly think that Apple would have given them the iPods if they knew that no one would talk about it?

[Mike10010100 @ Dec 5th 2007 6:13AM]

@everyone
I believe that the problem here is that this is a no win situation. If i were a manufacturer and heard of a group of people in my local area, I would think to myself, "Wow, I feel sorry for them, maybe i could help them out." And what do i have lying around my warehouse? My product. In theory, there is no way for poor Steve to win. Some will say that he did it entirely out of good will, which probably isn't entirely true, although I'm sure it is the majority of his motives. I mean honestly, who doesn't give things away to charity to make themselves feel a bit better. Secondly, OF COURSE THERE WAS A THOUGHT TO PR! However, it is not as "sleazy" as some people would have you believe. Think about it this way. Assume that he did give all of those iPods out of kindness. It would then only be a side effect that other people would hear of it. Finally, I don't know of anyone who bases their computer purchases off of whether or not the company has given things away.

You all are arguing so polar, when it really is something in between.

[Mike10010100 @ Dec 6th 2007 12:11AM]

@BigBirdUK

Finally, just one more thing. Your argument is illogical.

Your idea is that Apple should have anonymously donated something to this school, or that we should have never heard that Apple did anything at all. However, if this were true, Engadget wouldn't have posted this article, you wouldn't have read this, and you wouldn't have formed your current opinion.

And you would probably still bash apple by claiming that they never do anything nice for others.

Therefore, you and your argument are contradictory.

QED. Gotta love indirect proofs.

[Blackstar @ Dec 4th 2007 6:57PM]

Not to worry. All the iPods come pre-installed with every album by "Firehouse."

[BigBirdUK @ Dec 4th 2007 7:00PM]

Damn - beaten to the punch by one goddam minute.

I hope they put Firestarter by Prodigy on them too!

[Nburt @ Dec 4th 2007 7:08PM]

We didn't start the fire

[BigBirdUK @ Dec 4th 2007 7:15PM]

Build a Fire - KLF

[nklr @ Dec 4th 2007 7:18PM]

I just listened to Firestarter 10 minutes ago!