Hello and welcome to the Geeky Brummie Tech Round-Up!

Each week I’ll be deep diving into the world of technology. Bringing back some new pearls from Birmingham and beyond! If you want to send any local tech articles over, feel free to reach out to me at ryan@geekybrummie.com.

Hello All!

For this Tech-Roundup I wanted to do something a little different. The festive season is upon us and many of us will be receiving new technology in the ways of phones, tablets and laptops for our gifting.

So instead of highlighting what’s new, I wanted to suggest what you can do with something old instead!

Below is a list of regional charities that will accept tech in a good condition, rather than it lingering in a sock or spares drawer for eternity. Hopefully it might help you get rid of unwanted things and help someone else out instead.

St Basil’s

St Basils works with young people aged 16-25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, to enable them to find and keep a home, grow their confidence, develop their skills, increase opportunities and prevent homelessness.

They’re in need of donations of mobile phones, tablets and laptops in good working order (no broken screens, broken charging ports, etc.) and factory reset. This will be used to support young persons maintain an online presence, help write CV’s and do the things we all forget are so easy to achieve. Basically if it’s in good working order and something you’d consider worthy of passing along, they’d greatly appreciate it.

Further information and where to donate:

https://stbasils.org.uk/basilbytes/please-donate-your-old-phones-and-laptops/

Wowdot CIC

Built on the core mission of combating digital inequality across the UK, Wowdot supports a series of campaigns that help give young people and vulnerable families a fairer chance in education and social inclusion, through the means of digital technology and connectivity.

The current Connect_In’s campaign goal is to support 1000 children and families in Birmingham with devices and connectivity.

Further information and where to donate:

https://wow-group.co.uk/wowdot/

Sandwell Digital Donation

Sandwell Digital Donation is a project which lets you donate redundant digital equipment safely to families in Sandwell. It is a partnership project between Sandwell Council, Black Country Housing Group and West Bromwich social enterprise Repc Ltd.

They will be happy to receive any working device (PC, laptop or tablet)

Further information and where to donate:

https://www.thinksandwell.com/sandwell-digital-donation/

Wolves Tech Aid

Wolves Tech Aid is a not-for-profit initiative serving Wolverhampton. Its focus is to identify and repurpose a wide variety of technology to eliminate the inequality of access to digital education within the home for families across the city.

They’re happy to accept old tech you may have, any age and any condition but no broken screens please.

Desktops
Laptops with chargers (if possible)
Tablets

All donated kit will be recycled & refurbished and distributed to local schools to be given to children in need.

Further information and where to donate:

https://wolvestechaid.com/i-t-donations/

freeIT Stafford

FreeIT Stafford is a non-profit, unincorporated community organisation made up of a network of local IT repair professionals working voluntarily in our spare time tackling e-waste and digital poverty.

They provide free computer equipment to schools, charities, community groups, the voluntary sector, and other neglected corners of society and good causes, who are spending money on their IT provisions that could be better used elsewhere in their missions, or where that money simply doesn’t exist in the first place.

They would prefer laptops and tablet PC’s, but we will accept desktop systems and peripherals too.

Further information and where to donate:

http://www.freeitstafford.org/

Digital Inclusion Shropshire (via 8bits1byte)

Digital Inclusion Shropshire is our charitable effort to support the Digital Divide in Shropshire.

The digital divide is the gap between people in society who have full access to digital technologies (such as the internet and computers) and those who do not. Concerns about the digital divide have been particularly acute during the COVID-19 pandemic as the internet and digital devices have played an important role in allowing people to access services, attend medical appointments and stay in touch with friends and family.

They’re happy to accept all PCs, Laptops, Tablets etc. and will take broken/non-working devices, as they can either attempt a repair or use these to repair other devices to make more computers available to those who need them.

Further information and where to donate:

https://www.8bits1byte.co.uk/digitalinclusion/

I hope this has been useful and we would always encourage old tech to be re-used rather than consigned to a drawer, loft or landfill. Happy Holidays and see you in the new year for more tech!

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