The equivalent of £100,000 in used IT equipment has been donated by local organisations to a scheme providing digital hardware and support to individuals and community groups in need.
Daily Focus reported in June that TMT First founder Adam Whitehouse had set up Newcastle-under-Lyme-based community interest company Reboot IT for All to distribute donated hardware to those on a low-income.
Devices are data-wiped and refurbished, often providing a lifeline into education, jobs, services and community.
Recent devices received include 60 tower PCs from a local cyber security firm and 40 laptops from the Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.
Staffordshire Police has donated 300 webcams, while the University Hospitals of North Midlands has supplied 100 keyboards and mice.
Of the laptops, 10 have been donated to the YMCA in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.
Once refurbished, the remaining devices will be made available to organisations including Saltbox who help the vulnerable and elderly and VAST who help the voluntary community.
Adam said: “The combined value of the donations equates to more than £100,000 worth of new IT equipment, proof that with the right approach, when it comes to technology, “end of life,” doesn’t have to mean end of use. We have already donated ten laptops to the YMCA and to hear what an impact they will have is fantastic.”
Gyaps Antwi, Associate Director of Supported Living at the YMCA, said: “These laptops will make a real difference. Reboot’s donations will help create real opportunities for young people to explore where life can take them.”
Twenty-year-old Troy Bentley who lives at the YMCA and wants to work in the technology sector said: “It opens up a whole world that previously would have been difficult to access.”
Anyone who can help Reboot CIC as a volunteer with tasks such as wiping and reimaging devices, or who has equipment to donate, should email donate@reboot-it.org
