 Recently we highlighted the initiative championed by our Board member Cynthia Newlin to provide laptops to the Girl Power group led by Special Education Teacher Ms. Renee' Cleaves-Bryant and Paraprofessional Ms. Lydeasha Crawford, who teach at Public School #16 in Paterson, NJ.
 But Amelia was just the start of our great session on the 15th. After a walk through of the initial set up of the Girl Power students new laptops by Jon (the only "Y" chromosome in attendance), we were all treated to a Zoom presentation by Chattie Broadnax McGill. Ms. McGill is a Director at Kontoor Brands in Greensboro, NC and has a degree in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University. Kontoor Brands may be best known for Wrangler jeans, but they do so much more. Ms. McGill joined the company after graduating from college and shared her unique wisdom as both a woman and a person of color in the technology and business world. She also discussed some of the new hot areas of STEM that the students may wish to consider. The School #16 young women were enthralled by her presentation and asked a number of great questions.
In the past 5 years Laptop Upcycle has with the support of a generous donation from the Don Katz and Leslie Larson Foundation provided over 235 free WiFi hotspots to local families of students in need. These devices have been a key component of our strategy of delivering technology tools to those who need them locally.
Two weeks ago we were informed by T-mobile that as a result of the merger between T-mobile and US Sprint that the service on these devices would terminated due to network consolidation. These devices are set to expire today (June 30, 2022). Laptop Upcycle has been working aggressively with T-mobile to arrange replacements for the sunset devices. We are hopeful that a new agreement with T-mobile to be a part of their Project 10 Million initiative will allow us to replace all of the existing devices, but we have yet to receive final approval. We hope to have good news very soon and will share our plan for replacement devices as soon as we possibly can. We’re sorry for the pending service disruption, but the short notice was out of our control. As soon as we have an update, we will share it with all. Thank you! Laptop Upcycle outreach to neighboring communities continues to accelerate with the help of Cynthia Newlin's hard work. Recently Cynthia conducted a training session with Special Education Teacher Ms. Renee' Cleaves-Bryant, and Paraprofessional Ms. Lydeasha Crawford, who teaches at Public School #16 in Paterson, NJ. They will assist Laptop Upcycle in distributing and supporting both Girl Power and Boys Group with the tools they need for summer programs and school this Fall. Of course, the 24 laptops they received from us are theirs to keep. We're also looking forward to hosting Girl Power in our lab later this month for some hands-on training!
Thank you Ms. Cleaves-Bryant, Ms. Crawford, and Cynthia! You all rock! Look What You Can Do First, before we get to our ASK, we want to thank you for all your support. You have contributed in so many ways. From single personal donations of equipment or funds, to larger business/block donations, and even just word of mouth recommendations, your support has allowed us to:
But, we want to do so much more for those in need. The challenges in our and neighboring communities continue, and many students STILL don’t have the tools they need to succeed in school. So Here is Our Ask To build programs and support growth in our educational and giving activities, Laptop Upcycle desperately needs to add Volunteers to our team. If you’re reading this, we know you have super powers. You may be a marketing wiz, or a nascent tech nerd, or an expert grant writer. Or perhaps you’re a business development expert who could help us scale up our operation to touch more markets. We’re not looking to monopolize your time, because we know how busy everyone is these days, but if you can give some time, some ideas, or some strategy to an excellent cause we would like to hear from you. Take the first step. Email us at giveget@laptopupcycle.org Still looking for a Summer internship or know of a student looking? We have a great opportunity for a High School or local college student. Read about it here. Thanks  Yesterday on a beautiful Spring day Cynthia and Jon delivered 52 freshly refurbished small form factor i3 desktops to the Frank J. Napier, Jr. school in Paterson, NJ. Principal Derwin Smith and Vice-Principal Jennifer Woods will use the new workstations to both replace the aging XP vintage desktops in their computer lab and update the devices driving the smart boards in classrooms. Cynthia Newlin, Laptop Upcycle Board member and long time volunteer, established the relationship with the technology focused school and has led the way by helping us deliver over 30 laptops two months ago directly to students in need at the school. The updated lab will allow teachers at the school top better support their tech programs at the school. As always, this was a team effort and we have a number of people and organizations to thank. In addition to the amazing work by Cynthia, we appreciate:
 Join Laptop Upcycle as a Summer Intern this Summer and make a difference for young students locally. We are looking for a rising High School Senior or older volunteer to help us expand. Here is the detailed job description:
The successful candidate will work with the Laptop Upcycle Board of Directors to leverage existing promotion and communication channels and explore/develop new tools to expand regional awareness of Laptop Upcycle and promote our mission in three (3) primary areas.
We are a 100% volunteer organization, and we can not monetarily compensate you in this role; however, we will provide you with a high quality laptop which you may keep upon the internship completion. Any questions, or to apply for this internship, email us at giveget@laptopupcycle.org.
Be Like BCG.
Contact your IT Department. Send them a link to this page where they may also see the details of our donation (Give) process (follow the link). If they have any more questions, we're happy to answer them. They can email us and we will set up a call and a pick up. MIke and his team have been busy in the lab. Read about us here in this month's issue of My Suburban Essex!   Have you thought about how Laptop Upcycle gets So. Many. Laptops? Individual donations from generous and thoughtful community members are important (please keep ‘em coming) but there’s a reuse “pipeline” that contributes quite a bit. Companies like Essence Global Advertising, BCG, Celonis and Pfizer choose to donate their laptops when they’re “retired” and we’re exceedingly grateful for their support of our underprivileged students. Companies, from Tier 1 to small businesses, make up a significant IT equipment repurposing cycle. As computer equipment such as laptops, desktops, servers, tablets, etc. (termed collectively as “IT assets”) are no longer needed, there is a nationwide reseller industry that evaluates them (called “grading”) for any retained value and remarkets them. Not only is this a green initiative but there is almost always a market for a functioning computer somewhere.  At Laptop Upcycle, we are working to get the attention of corporations and resellers to create a larger laptop inventory feed so that we can continue to expand our program. That’s why we were so pleased when Doug Green of Telecom Reseller invited us to be on his weekly podcast that showcases news for the corporate IT asset reseller market.  Sarah Damaskos, a Laptop Upcycle co-founder and board member, sat down (virtually) to tell the excellent historical and current view of Laptop Upcycle. She also noted the impact of the program, our intentionally-anonymous relationships with individual kids in need, and most importantly, our local approach.
We’d like to thank Telecom Reseller for giving us the airtime to outline Laptop Upcycle’s growth mission in understandable terms that provides listeners a way to help. If you know a company -- perhaps yours? -- that’s planning an IT refresh and would like to donate their laptops for PR benefits, tax benefits and big-hearted benefits we want to talk to them! Did we mention benefits? Thanks for reading, thanks for listening (our first podcast – woo hoo) and thanks for supporting us!  This Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) Laptop Upcycle wants to put a laptop under the trees of students in need. Laptop Santa knows that students who have their own laptops for school, projects, personalization, ownership and accountability -- use them and succeed! Throughout December we'd like your help to brighten the Holiday Season for a local student who cannot afford a laptop for school.
If you know of a middle or high school student who could use a laptop and can't afford it, let us know. Our elves are standing by to deliver a refurbished and wrapped laptop that's ready to go under the tree. You can help! 1) Identify students who would benefit and appreciate a holiday gift of a laptop by filling in this short form. 2) Donate a laptop (used or new) 3) Donate funds to support this program! If you have any questions or would like to suggest a partnership or idea, send us an email at giveget@laptopupcycle.org. Deadline: Dec 22, 2021 Thank you for being a "giver" this holiday season and giving a student in need a laptop to succeed. In the past 5 years Laptop Upcycle has given out over 1000 laptops to low income and special needs students. We'd like to end this year with a mighty Ho ho ho! The Laptop Upcycle elves |
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