"Alternative Charity" is in my mind this week because a project for which I volunteer is celebrating its first anniversary. Our local Linux Users Group has now refurbished twenty computers, which have been distributed through our local United Way to families who cannot otherwise afford a computer. (We're a small group, in a small community.)

I don't have kids, but I gather that these days the schools pretty much require that the students do their homework on computers. Kids who can't afford a computer are at a tremendous disadvantage -- they either have to book limited time on the school's PCs during school hours, or they have to compete for the few public-access PCs at the local library. These, of course, are the "government" solutions to the government-school-created problem.

Now twenty families have a third option: a serviceable, if not glitzy, computer for their very own, that their kids can use at home. No, they may not be able to run iTunes, but they can write reports, do spreadsheets, write simple programs, and surf the net. (The local ISP has partnered with the United Way to make low-cost Internet access available to these students. Again, a fully private initiative.) This is help the government was not providing, given to people who have reason to distrust and fear the government.

Do I think these people are going to run right out and vote Libertarian? No, of course not. They are dependent on government aid, and will continue to be dependent on government aid for some time. But their eyes have been opened a little. They might think "hey, there are people who will help us" -- local, private people, that is; not government people. They might remember that while the government is hassling them to account for every cent of income, these private people said "here, take this, and do what you want with it." (There are no restrictions on these computers; they can sell them if they wish, although of course each family receives only one, and they won't fetch much on the open market.) Rather than being humiliated by a welfare functionary, they might remember that these private people helped preserve their dignity (none of the volunteers ever knows who receives these computers). They might see that there is an alternative source of help.

And, when some supercilious statist prods me with "What about the poor," I can reply, "This is what I have done, personally. What have you done?"

This is just one example, which I chose because I happen to be directly involved in it, which in turn is because some local folks happened to conceive of the project. But projects like this are everywhere. I could as easily have volunteered time for our local Habitat for Humanity, which just last year put six local families into new homes. Or Covenant House. Or, if I were religious, the Salvation Army. Or countless others.

"The poor will always be with us." I'm working towards a society where aid to the poor is freely given, and not coerced from the pockets of others. And by doing so, I weaken the justification for the State.