EK company logs on to help the homeless
Equipmentdonated
An East Kilbride company is helping the homeless gain vital access to technology.
Re-Tek, who refurbish IT equipment such as laptops, PCs, servers and mobile phones, have been working with charity Social Bite to provide top-quality tech for their digital inclusion project.
The Langlands-based firm have donated 25 laptops and four PCs after responding to a homeless man’s need for a mobile phone to maintain contact with support services through Social Bite.
Scott-Moncrieff partner Fraser Nicol initially donated 17 PCs and 34 laptops from their office in Glasgow and 20 laptops from their Edinburgh office which ReTek collected, securely wiped all data, refurbished and sold into its reseller network.
With the money raised, Re-Tek were able to provide 25 high-spec laptops and four PCs to Social Bite as well as installing Windows 10 and Microsoft Office. Re-tek projects director Billy McPherson says the company has been working with social enterprises for the past few years to encourage and support collections of used IT equipment in communities.
He said: “Businesses are normally quite happy to pass on good quality out-of-use equipment for charitable benefit.
“Once data is wiped and the computers sold into our network the profits are shared with the social enterprise.”
The computers will be used in five sandwich shops across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen initially to help homeless and vulnerable people access support services.
Social Bite’s Ewain Black said: “This is a generous and practical donation from two respected businesses which will be a huge help to us in training and support not only in the number of people we can help – but also how efficiently we can do it.”