FreeIT - Stafford.

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
Another testament to the hard work of our volunteer team and the kindness of you lovely people helping us to buy parts to upgrade these to modern specification through your sponsorships and PayPal donations!

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FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
* Something a little unusual *
We've come across a couple of these "Valiant Roamer" floor drawing robots from the 90's.
We'd really like to gift them forward to an educational setting or coding club, as they are perfect for teaching basic programming.
Drop us a line with your ideas!

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FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
A little insight behind our scenes, with this image of open-heart-multi-task laptop surgery.
Our long term tech volunteer Tim is busy in his home workshop refurbishing these items ready for their new homes where they are desperately needed.
Each one has a secure erase, a good hoover out, replacement CPU thermal bonding, a new clock battery, a bunch of electrical checks, and a full reinstall of Windows 10 as though it's fresh from the factory.
A fine example of the skills and time that our volunteers give, and the lengths they will go to, to ensure these are in tip top condition for their new owners, and we couldn't do this without them
🙂


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FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
Numbers 485 and 486, delivered today to Beacon Church for their administrative work.
Thanks to our sponsors and PayPal supporters for allowing us to equip these with wi-fi capability
🙂


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FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
Calling all tech bods!
We're short of a few odds and ends, but before we spend money on them we'd like to appeal to local techy types to see if you have any of these in your spares bins:
- DDR2 laptop 2GB/4GB, yes we know, old, but still valid to us
- 120GB SSD 2.5" or hybrids
- SFF PCIE graphics
- ATX and SFF PCI & PCIE wi-fi adapters
- USB wi-fi adapters
If so, please drop in to: Community Recycling Hub, Rear offices, Castlefields ST161BQ (behind old shoe shed), or we can accept small mailed items at our postal address at Dunston.
We'll also take your old CPU's, 1GB DDR2 and any DDR1 you might have, as we can resell those as high grade PCB's in bulk, which allows us to buy other things we need
🙂

We're registered with the Environment Agency as a charitable lower tier waste carrier, broker and dealer, so we're able to accept all other high grade scrap IC's, RAM cards, and copper heatsinks for salvage resale.
 
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FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
We've become aware of a new local I.T. recycling scheme being operated by Stone Group in conjunction with Stafford Borough Council, with a very similar mission to ours.
We'll never begrudge anyone who wants to achieve the same outcomes as us, but we're more than disappointed that those two large organisations have chosen to create and plug their own project instead of supporting and promoting ours that has existed for near on 18 months, particularly when we've asked for their help, and been blatantly ignored.
We had a similar situation last year, only it was Staffs Community Foundation and Staffs County Council who ignored our pleas for support and instead set up their own donation points. We would point out that Staffs County Council's own internal departments have since been in touch with us to ask for our help with devices for their clients, so it seems that wasn't a huge success anyway.
We are our own entity with our own donation points and our own client and donor base, and we are unfortunately in no way affiliated with these other schemes.
You're of course welcome to donate your old equipment to any project you wish, but if you'd prefer your equipment to come to us, please only use the donation points we advertise here, and don't mistake these separate ventures as one and the same.
We'll continue to operate with our own principles and through our own sponsorships and PayPal donations.
 
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Glam

Mad Cat Woman
We've become aware of a new local I.T. recycling scheme being operated by Stone Group in conjunction with Stafford Borough Council, with a very similar mission to ours.
We'll never begrudge anyone who wants to achieve the same outcomes as us, but we're more than disappointed that those two large organisations have chosen to create and plug their own scheme instead of supporting and promoting ours that has existed for near on 18 months, particularly when we've asked for their help, and been blatantly ignored.
We had a similar situation last year, only it was Staffs Community Foundation and Staffs County Council who ignored our pleas for support and instead set up their own scheme as soon as they got wind of our project. We would point out that Staffs County Council's own internal departments have since been in touch with us to ask for our help with devices for their clients, so it seems that wasn't a huge success anyway.
We are our own entity with our own donation points and our own client and donor base, and we are in no way affiliated with this other scheme.
We offer the same secure erase procedure as the "MOD standard" that the other scheme is boasting.
We'll continue to operate with our own principles and through our own sponsorships and PayPal donations.
Stone Group, and Stafford Borough Council, don't worry, we won't bother you again.
Stone are only in it for profit, nothing else. They're awaiting a big influx of computer stuff from Stafford schools/ college. Considering the massive profits they make, year in, year out. You would think they would consider lending a hand to yourselves. I do wish you could get charity status.
 

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
You and me both, but we're nowhere near the financial pre-requisites.
Stone group have bluntly ignored our correspondence.
 

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
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In under 18 months we have now serviced and rehomed 500 of your unwanted PC's, laptops, and tablets, for free!
Our delivery yesterday of a laptop to a housebound client of Cerebral Palsy Mid Staffs (CPMS) saw us smash this impressive milestone!
Thank you to everyone who's donated equipment and funds to help us along our way, to our tech volunteers and trustees for keeping the wheels turning, and finally to all of you lovely people for sharing our stories online and giving us such a huge exposure and reach!
We've created some vital community links and we'll continue to help even more great causes in our battle against e-waste and digital poverty
🙂
 
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FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
Huge thank you to the donor of this Compaq laptop, and to our sponsors and PayPal supporters for allowing us to afford to replace the battery and install Office software!
This was our 500th rehomed device, and what a result, helping this lady to stay joined in with group activities and creating presentations while she's stuck at home
🙂


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FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
Please note:
*We can't take equipment donations at our Dunston address*
Our tech guys and trustees all work from home and we don't have a proper office, workshop, or storage facility, we simply can't afford it.
We rely on other friends in the voluntary sector offering us corners of store rooms where you lovely people can leave your donated equipment securely until our guys can collect it.
Our Dunston address is not a physical working space, it's an intermediary mail forwarding service shared by other businesses and is a low cost formality we've always needed for various administrative reasons. In the same way our landline number is merely a call forwarder to our mobiles.
We can only accept posted correspondence at this address, details of our equipment donation points are kept updated on the "Donate" page of our website at www.freeitstafford.org
🙂


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