Taking a relatively unique approach to raising funds, the National Education Technology Initiative is holding its first Net-A-Thon from May 1 to 16.

The non-profit organization’s goal is to equip every classroom in the 130,000 public schools in the U.S. for students from kindergarten to Grade 12 with the computers and software needed to hook up to the Internet by the year 2000.

More than 80 companies have donated the ‘thousands’ of goods and services up for bid, says NET Initiative director Jay Alan Samit, president of Van Nuys, California-based Jasmine Multimedia Publishing.

An NFL Pro Bowl football signed by the league’s top players, an opportunity to be an extra on Law & Order, and for kids, autographed sketches from the Berenstain Bears books are among the items posted on the Net-A-Thon Web site (http://www.neti.org).

U.S. Vice President Al Gore will deliver a speech via satellite to Electronic Entertainment Expo (see page 23) on May 16. The highest bidder per item will then be notified by e-mail.

NET Initiative plans to make the on-line auction a twice-yearly event coinciding with E3 in May and Comdex in November. Five hundred schools will receive their supplies this summer.