Small Town News

Give second life to old computers

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Brian Belcher, an Eastlake High School graduate who started a company to provide El Salvadorans with affordable electronics, is returning to Sammamish to take people's old and discarded computers.

Belcher and the city of Sammamish, along with Seattle-based computer refurbisher, Interconnections, are teaming up to hold an e-cycling event Sept. 11 in the City Hall parking lot, said Dawn Sanders, the city's volunteer coordinator. They will accept donations from 10 a.m. -- 2 p.m.

The idea is to take computers and monitors

Sammamish residents don't use and make them available to people in rural El Salvador through Computodos, Belcher's San Salvador-based organization. Upon collection, Interconnections will repair and refurbish what it can before sending the equipment to Central America, Belcher said.

They will accept any working or nonworking desktop or laptop computer, as well as any LCD or CRT monitor, for free. Recycling printers and scanners costs $5 per item, Sanders said.

And because Interconnections is a nonprofit organization, residents who donate computer equipment will receive a tax-deduction receipt, Sanders and Belcher said.

Belcher said the average American household has up to three obsolete computers in storage.

He is seeking both businesses and households to participate.

"Not only does it bring you an environmental way to get rid of old computers, but we're also going to give it a second life in El Salvador," Belcher said over the phone from San Salvador.

Sanders noted that all hard drive data from donated computers will be securely destroyed.

She is still looking for volunteers to make the event run smoothly, she said. To volunteer, contact Sanders at 295-0556 or dsanders@ci. sammamish. wa.us.



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© 2011 Sammamish Review Sammamish, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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