Infinite Loop / The Apple Ecosystem

Apple to students affected by wildfire: Happy Holidays!

Apple is providing shiny new iPods to students in California who lost their …

Fah who for-aze! Steve Jobs catches plenty of flak in the media for his business decisions, and has a reputation for driving a hard bargain. But apparently he's got a kinder, gentler side too, and there may even be a heart of gold beating underneath that black turtleneck. Why do I say that? Because Apple is donating iPods to students in at least one California county that was hit particularly hard by wildfires.

Here's the story: Steve Boyack, the husband of a Poway, California councilwoman, e-mailed Steve Jobs asking Apple to donate iPods as part of a fire relief effort. After seeing high schools students get left out of other fire relief drives for toys or housewares, Boyack wanted to help out students by giving them something that many lost to the wildfires. An Apple manager named Michael Foulkes agreed, and the company provided iPods nanos to any Poway high school students who lost their homes as a result of the wildfires.

After its heart grew one size in Poway, Apple will also be rolling out the program to all of San Diego county, which should cheer up quite a few more students that have had a rough time for the past few months. According to Boyack, the Apple's gift was "from the heart," and the company didn't want publicity for it (too late now, huh?). Kudos to Apple for its (by all accounts) selfless holiday giving.

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