recyclemac

(From an original post to Tumblr)

I joined Washington Apple Pi or WAP for short) in 1983 or so. Like many, I needed some support from fellow users and WAP was the answer.  (That’s me second from right with a group of SARAsaurs as we were called – the /// was named after the designer’s daughter.)

A group of us started holding tech sessions on Tuesday nights – folks would bring their sick computers in for repair help, to ask questions, get upgrades – you name it. Some left old machines behind. And that was the start of our recycling efforts.

Early-on, the focus was on the  Apple II – Apple’s first real success story. We tried to recycle many donations to schools that did not have any – like the two elementary schools in West Virginia in 1996.That’s a picture at left of all the computer equipment ready to be set up in a lab.

As Apple moved from IIs to Macs, we slowly made the switch ourselves as the mix of donations changed. The passion was still there – we just had a different machine to work with. There is a real challenge in taking a donated machine and turning it into a tool that is useful again. But for most of us, there is just great satisfaction and joy watching the faces of those who receive our donations.