FreeIT - Stafford.

FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
** Thank you all! **
Replacing old technology with new allows us to completely transform your aged gadgets, and one of the ways we do that is by replacing old fashioned mechanical hard disks with the latest microchip controlled SSD drives. Doing this can turn the oldest most sluggish laptop into a perfectly usable one with an insane difference in drive response and load times. It's a straight swap and a ten minute job, but those upgrades cost money, roughly £10 for each SSD drive we purchase.
Well, we have news
🙂

As a result of your PayPal contributions and our lovely regular sponsors, we're now able to replace the old hard drives for an SSD in EVERY SINGLE laptop that we rehome!
We'd love to extend this to desktop systems too, but we can't do that without your help.
If you'd like to sponsor an SSD feel free to send your £10 bungs to www.paypal.me/freeitstafford

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FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
We're regularly contacted by individuals and families asking for support, and we'd love to help everyone without question, but we don't have our own safeguarding policy, nor can we apply due diligence if we don't know those people personally.
In the early days we were perhaps a little naive, and ultimately some equipment ended up in the hands of a deceptive individual who had sinister intentions for it. We can't risk a repeat now that we are gathering our formalities to become a registered charity.
In these situations we'd ask that the individual or family please don't contact us directly. We will require a referral from an agency who do know the family well and can confirm there are no legal restrictions on items they can possess, and that the intended use is a legitimate necessity, so for example a social worker, digital mentor, church, etc, where they have their own safeguarding policy in place that we can refer to if issues arise.
We'll issue the equipment to the agency, and they will take it from there.
This has been particularly noticeable just of late with the arrival of many refugee families.
In those cases, we'd love to point you in the direction of www.staffordwelcomesrefugees.org who can provide extra support and also act as referees for equipment
🙂
 
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FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
-Coming soon-
We'll be bringing you a social media series which we're going to call "Rags to riches"
In this series we'll follow the journey of one of your donated laptops, from when we collect from our donation point, all the way through the refurbishment process, show you all the checks we do and the parts we replace, right up to the moment it's handed over to the new owner
🙂

When will we do this?
We will need the right scenario that depends on two things, firstly receiving equipment which needs extensive repair and which will make for sustained content, but then also the willingness of the recipient to have their hand over publicised.
The series itself we'll probably publish in dribs and drabs as new parts arrive and are fitted over the course of a couple of weeks.
Hope you'll follow along
🙂
 
FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
These are our current flyers, they've served a purpose but we'd really like something a bit more jazzy, that reflects our updated graphics and social medias. Something like our cover photo, but better.
If there's anyone who'd care to have a pop at putting us something together, you know, for free, we'd be super grateful.
Printing is covered, it's only the design that we need
🙂


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FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
With the delivery of 8 more of your unwanted laptops to a specialist school yesterday, we're creeping ever closer to another big milestone, and if we keep going at this rate, can you imagine what our numbers will be this time next year? That could well be not just a big milestone, but a HUGE one!
If the school choose to publicise, we'll follow suit!
We couldn't do any of this without your support :)

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FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
You may have noticed that we've changed address
🙂

All of us here at Free I.T. would like to endlessly thank Justine and Nigel and everyone at the Rehome Repurpose project, not only for offering us donation storage space and financial support, but also for now allowing us to use their premises as a mailing address, thus saving us £180 a year that we were spending on our "virtual office" at Dunston.
We've now confirmed our relocation with Google Maps so you'll be able to find our donation point easily (and leave us a Google review) by simply Googling us
🙂

Please visit the Rehome Repurpose project here: https://www.facebook.com/rehomeandrepurpose

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FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
** Sponsor us! **
We offer our time, skills and knowledge as tech volunteers for free, but we can't escape paying for spare parts and the other costs we have to cover day to day, our trust bank account fees, test kit calibration, packing materials and such. We'll always replace damaged, worn or dangerous components during our refurbishment process and we can't do that without you!
We're always keen to speak to local businesses who'd like to be a part of what we do, and boast your support for our great cause :)
As a corporate sponsor, we'll splash your logo on the screen of every laptop and PC that we rehome, and we'll send you regular spreadsheets so you can visualise who we've helped, where your logo is being seen, and how we're spending your pledge :)
Drop us a message to find out more!
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FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
- An idea -
We've been inspired by a youtube video which describes a similar project to ours in the US called "Free Geek". They run a giveaway scheme as we do, but they also have a side arm which gives them a good return... stay with me
🙂

Sometimes we're given equipment which is simply too dated to run a modern operating system or internet browser, and doesn't offer any wealth in the form of spare parts.
Up until now we've been putting those towards our project by dissecting them and removing the precious metals, which we've resold to make a small amount of cash to pay for other things we need, while ethically recycling the rest.
As most of our guys are old school techs who've grown up around and owned these retro devices, it's devastating to us to see this rare equipment, which at times is in mint condition, ending its life this way, and for a pittance of return to us.
To that end, we're considering creating an online retro equipment shop, where we'd be able to re-offer those items back to fellow retro admirers, collectors, or just to anyone who'd be looking for some nostalgia or a project to play with, and we'd like to gauge interest in advance.
How many of our followers here would describe themselves as "old school"? Would there be much interest in us offering retro equipment for sale to help our project financially? Please, let us know your thoughts
🙂

You know those 'Eureka' moments where you think "why aren't we doing that?", well here's the video that's set this fire burning:
 
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Glam

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
FreeITstafford said:
- An idea -
We've been inspired by a youtube video which describes a similar project to ours in the US called "Free Geek". They run a giveaway scheme as we do, but they also have a side arm which gives them a good return... stay with me
🙂

Sometimes we're given equipment which is simply too dated to run a modern operating system or internet browser, and doesn't offer any wealth in the form of spare parts.
Up until now we've been putting those towards our project by dissecting them and removing the precious metals, which we've resold to make a small amount of cash to pay for other things we need, while ethically recycling the rest.
As most of our guys are old school techs who've grown up around and owned these retro devices, it's devastating to us to see this rare equipment, which at times is in mint condition, ending its life this way, and for a pittance of return to us.
To that end, we're considering creating an online retro equipment shop, where we'd be able to re-offer those items back to fellow retro admirers, collectors, or just to anyone who'd be looking for some nostalgia or a project to play with, and we'd like to gauge interest in advance.
How many of our followers here would describe themselves as "old school"? Would there be much interest in us offering retro equipment for sale to help our project financially? Please, let us know your thoughts
🙂

You know those 'Eureka' moments where you think "why aren't we doing that?", well here's the video that's set this fire burning:
Click to expand...
Literally just shared this on Farcebook! I think it's a great idea.
 
Noah

Noah

Well-Known Forumite
Very old school. Might be interested in some old tech, but also might have some to dispose of.
 
FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
It's getting on for that time of year...
Don't forget, if you're upgrading your gadgets next month, we'll take your old kit, in any condition, and give it a new lease of life where it's desperately needed!

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FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
Another huge milestone is reached!
Today we handed over two more of your unwanted PC's which takes our total to 600 refurbished devices given back to the community where they are needed most, for free :)
We've rehomed:
- 303 laptops, netbooks, macbooks
- 209 desktop PCs, iMacs, all-in-ones
- 88 tablets, iPads
Thank you to our sponsors for keeping our cogs turning, and to you lovely people for donating your redundant equipment and sharing our good news!

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FreeITstafford

FreeITstafford

Well-Known Forumite
Huge thank you's to our sponsors (pictured) and one-off donors for allowing us to buy all the bits and bobs we need to restore unwanted equipment back to former glory!
If you'd like to be a regular sponsor or even send us a virtual coffee to keep our brains awake, you can find all the details on our website at www.freeitstafford.org on the "Donate" and "Sponsors" pages
🙂


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