SCHENECTADY — Having an old or broken computer collecting dust at home can be an opportunity to help someone in need and get a tax deduction, too.
GE Elfun Computer Rehab of Schenectady is encouraging people to turn in those defunct machines so they can rehab and donate them to those in need, specifically schools and other nonprofit organizations.
Volunteers at the nonprofit have turned one person’s junk into another’s treasure for years. The tech-savvy wizards take the computers, wipe the drives, give them a new memory core and install Microsoft Windows software.
The only cost to recipients is about $10 for the Microsoft license. The labor and equipment are provided at no cost, Elfun President Terry Lustofin explained.
The group, composed mostly of General Electric retirees like Lustofin, was refurbishing and donating about 800 computers a year prior to the pandemic.
But after shutdowns forced the group to take an eight-month hiatus away from their GE shop, it has yet to reach those numbers again. Elfun was able to restore about 550 computers last year and is striving to donate 700 this year.
The team can certainly do it but needs more donated computers and laptops.
Lustofin said the organization gets most of its laptops from one corporate donor who has helped them reach more people over the last few years, but it’s not enough.
“We need a lot of people donating laptop computers,” he said. “We really need a few more corporate donors who can get us a quantity of laptops.”
Lustofin emphasized not only does this help give those in need access to computers but it also eliminates waste while being tax-deductible for donors.
“The computers that we provide are as good as anything they could buy at an expensive price and they pay nothing for any of the equipment from us,” he noted.
“Our goal is to, one, save the planet environmentally and make use of this computer equipment rather than recycling it because the equipment’s still good. And secondly, it’s (to) bridge the digital divide, because the disadvantaged in our country don’t have the money or access to get this equipment,” he added.
Source: https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/General-Electric-nonprofit-computers-rehab-17194836.php