free software alternative to Access

[Peter Dobratz]

I'm working with the Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity.  We have an 
annual fundraiser that includes many affiliates from New Hampshire and 
Northeastern Massachusetts.  Our current solution to take registration 
information uses a Microsoft Access Database that one of our members 
developed.  Although our primary focus is having something that gets 
the job done, I would prefer to use free software where possible.  It's 
disappointing to have to tell people that they can't use the software 
we developed because they bought the "standard" version of MS Office, 
which does not include Access.  There are ways of getting discount 
prices for software for non-profits, but any money we spend on software 
is money that can't go towards building houses.

Does anyone know of any free software packages that we can use?  
Basically, we have hikers and teams of hikers that raise money.  We 
want to keep track of how much money each hiker contributed, and keep 
their names and addresses, so that we can mail them a brochure for next 
year's hike.  Most of the laptops that people own or borrow for the 
event have some version of windows on them.  Some sort of bootable CD 
with USB flash drives for the datastore might be optimal.

--Peter