Where Old Computers Go To … Live!

By Wayne Maruna

Getting rid of old computers used to be easy, especially if they were in working condition.  Grandparents often handed them down to their grandchildren.  But nowadays it is typical for the grandchildren to already have better machines than the grandparents’ hand-me-downs.  Two and three computer households are probably more common than not.  So when I help someone set up a new machine, it is not unusual for the owner to ask me to just take the old machine, wipe the hard drive clean, and dispose of it as I see fit.

The machines are usually mechanically sound.  The age, condition, and power of the old machine will dictate what I do with them.  If sufficiently powerful, I usually wipe the hard drive and reinstall the operating system, anti-malware applications, and a basic set of common programs.  Although there is no longer the market for used computers that there once was, sometimes I can find interested parties to purchase the machines for a nominal amount that justifies the work put into them, and the hardware essentially goes along for free.  There have been several instances where I have provided rebuilt machines gratis to the Merci Clinic, where I serve as a volunteer tech support person, and the machines are deployed as expansion units or spares.  Several LCD monitors have ended up there as well. Since the clinic has a primary software program that has a minimum CPU speed requirement of 1.8 GHz and requires that the machines be upgradeable to at least 2GB of memory, donated machines must meet those criteria.

So what happens to the machines that don’t make the cut?  Units with defective motherboards or CPUs, and those deemed too old and underpowered to be viable for use, end up getting taken to the electronics recycling pod at the county landfill.  Units in working condition but with marginal power specifications may end up at the Technology Center located at Brinson Elementary School.  The Tech Center can often place these in use in areas that don’t require strong machines. 

The computers that exceed minimum performance standards but are not suitable for use at the clinic or strong enough for resale still find worthy purpose.  A gentleman named Ellis Miller, whose acquaintance I made through the New Bern Computer User Group, has engaged in a unique ministry over the past 15 to 20 years.  During that time, he has helped repurpose old computers by placing them with charitable organizations.  Ellis, who lives in River Bend, estimates that he has placed about 200 computers in that time. He recently placed about a dozen machines with Religious Community Services (RCS) here in New Bern for their use, and has also supplied machines to the Phoenix House, a halfway house not far from the senior center on George Street.  I’ve given Ellis some of the old machines I have removed from clients’ homes, cleaned up, and reconfigured.

Currently Ellis is working with an organization called Vocational Rehabilitation and Independent Living, whose offices are on Neuse Blvd. near Glenburnie.  This state run agency has a stated mission of helping people with disabilities to be employed and to live independently.  He originally got involved through a project called Virtual Buddies, designed to assist handicapped mentors help other handicapped persons learn to utilize computers. The computers fill a need to help many of these people, who are trying to maintain an independent living status, create a web of social support and relationships and assist with educational opportunities.  Sometimes local ISPs provide free or discounted internet access to the clients of the Vocational Rehab, since money is typically tight.

The machines I have given Ellis have for the most part been ready to roll out to rehab clients, but many of the machines Ellis resurrects need components that Ellis funds out of his own pocket.  For software needs, he sometimes uses the same organization that I have used at Merci Clinic, an online source called Tech Soup, which for a nominal administrative fee arranges for the delivery of donated or steeply discounted software from major software companies such as Microsoft, Symantec, and the like. Tech Soup has been a real boon to the clinic and other qualified charitable organizations.

While we may be inspired by people like Ellis, he in turn has been inspired by the people he helps.  He recounts a particular day when he went to a training session and walked into a house trailer to find two wheelchair-bound men with their backs to the door, busily engrossed with the computer.  The training session was to discover how best to utilize an on-screen keyboard and roller ball mouse to compose email.  Both the trainer and trainee were young men in motorized wheelchairs with joy sticks.  Not only could neither of these men walk, but both had severe hand and arm dexterity limitations and therefore had to use their wrists to operate the wheelchair joy sticks.

           Says Ellis, “The image of those two guys in their motorized wheelchairs almost always pops into my head when I hear an apparently healthy adult say ‘I can't’".

We may not like to think about it, but some of us will graduate to assisted living someday.  I am encouraged to know that many of our computers have gone ahead and found a renewed life in such an arrangement.