Being one of the monks who treads with soft footsteps, I don't open my big yap too often. However when I saw this idea, I needed to respond. I think it's a wonderful idea. Not only is the original idea good, but even donating to libraries is a gesture worthy of praise.

Should you need help with implimenting this idea, I'd be more then happy to help. If you don't need another set of fingers at a keyboard, I'm sure monitary aide would be appreciated

However I would almost push the idea a little bit further. Put together a small set of perl learning books, 3-5 copies of each book. Then seek out a sympathetic High School Computer teacher. Tell them if they're willing to get their students into Perl programming, you've got a small library of books to give them to help get them started. Not only that you could plug the monastery as an online place to get help. I'm not a teacher (yet) but I'm guessing that giving a teacher a push, and showing them a helpful support network that can aid their students could easily overcome any lack of knowledge on their part. This kind of work could branch off into monks visiting schools and what not, or inviting students to PM group meetings, but I digress.

Having said my piece, I'll lurk over here for a while.

Me

Update: Silly me, I just reread my post again, and realized I left part unclear. I'm not advocating donating 3-5 copies of each and every book given out. Just put together a set of maybe 3 good starter books and have 3-5 copies of each book.