I have a laptop with a bad battery (works great plugged in) that I'd like to give to charity. Does anyone know of good charities that do this? I'd like for some kid who needs it for school to get it.
Semi-related (bum story): Anyone ever see that black guy who's always dressed really nice and yells at the Walk/Don't Walk signs downtown? What's his deal?
weslinder, call Marvin Zindler, maybe? I would suppose that there is no way to exactly know who's going to get it if you just donate it. I think you might want to ask foster homes if they accept one? I know that if you give it to Goodwill or Salvation Army, they'll just fix it and put it up for sale.
Good point, pirc1. BUT... How do you determine what a "poor" school is? Do you look at their budget? It's public info, by the way.
You obviously don't work in downtown Houston. He's a celebrity. He wears really nice clothes (three piece and all)--different ones all the time--and he walks around yelling at the Walk/Don't Walk signs. I suspect the Free Press has done a piece on him as they did with the Five Dollar Pizza Man who goes to clubs late offering his pizza.
pirc1, the university for which I work donates older PCs and servers that we phase out... To whom? I don't know. I gotta ask. weslinder, what model is it, may I ask...? I might be able to just give you some $$$ for it. But I don't want to take it off the hands of someone who might need it.
weslinder -- I used to help run a program that would accept computer donations. We would refurbish them and send them to schools in Africa. I've moved away and don't really work on it any more, but the guy I had worked with is planning another trip some time this summer, I think. If you are interested, let me know -- just email me. BTW, if you are looking for a tax write-off, I don't know if he can do that any more. Several years ago, I had a 501C-3 company that we ran the program through, so we could give people writeoffs. I don't think that he's renewed the 501C-3, so while it's still a nonprofit, it can't give people tax writeoffs (I dunno, maybe it can -- I have no idea about this stuff).
would please post the info here. We have been cleaning out our warehouse and have lots of used computer equipment we need to get rid of in an environmentally friendly way. A couple of the items I believe have found a home. One was a 1978 Wang computer with six inch floppies. The Vintage Computer Museum is probably going to take that one in exchange for a tax write-off. My dad said it ran about twenty grand new. Amazing. The ram on this thing is about a foot and a half long and as far as I can tell is 8 meg each. built into a desk. the cpu is about the size of a power supply for a high end studio console. If there are any vintage computer nerds on forum just email me. There's some cool stuff in there. If anyone else knows of some places that will take and recycle the newer stuff please post here. Regards, Brock
Brock -- I will post info for him as soon as I can get it (he's in New Orleans now, and I don't really know what his contact info is there -- emailed him this morning). I also have a computer recycler in Houston, if you are looking for one. Here is his contact info: Computer Sales, Service, & Salvage David Rogers 7979 N. Eldridge Pkwy #3025 Houston, TX 770441 832-704-2454 It's been several years since I lived in Houston and had him as my recycler, so perhaps he doesn't do it any more. Here's the contact info for the folks who used to do my computer recycling. They got out of the business, but they might be back in. They were fantastic: AJG Recycle 22402 Falvel Road Spring, TX 77389 281-350-5381 Also, you can take stuff to the City Recycling on Westpark -- they only accept so much at a time though -- it used to be something like 5 components (Monitors, CPUs, etc.) at a time.
You could give it to the SPCA. I just started there and man...some of the computers (including the one I work on) are ancient. We don't get any government funding (we operate entirely off donations, both materials and $), so anything useful is welcomed.