Computers for those who need them

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/07/2020 (2021 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

People desperately in need of computers to keep them connected during the pandemic recently got some help from a diverse group who joined forces to provide them.

On July 6, trucks rolled out of Computers for Schools’ warehouse in South Transcona with computers destined for neighbourhoods in Winnipeg and communities across Manitoba, such as Marcel Colomb First Nation, Swan River and Thompson.

The idea began with Tech Manitoba, whose DigitALL program provides people with computers and training. It get sthe computers from Computers for Schools, one of Manitoba’s largest electronics recyclers, which diverts an average of 500,000 pounds of e-waste per year from Manitoba’s landfills.

“It’s a natural partnership. We can provide the devices while they provide the training,” said Computers for Schools executive director Justin Menard, adding that his organization has been bombarded with requests since the pandemic’s onset.

COVID-19 has forced Tech Manitoba to find new ways of helping people become computer literate, program coordinator Paula Canas said.

“We saw the need for computers for people battling isolation and to help people in school at home and even at work,” Canas said.

At the same tim,e Albert Boakye saw a need in his community. Working with the Ethnocultural Council of Manitoba, Boakye said many immigrant families have struggled.

“During COVID-19 we felt the need to connect with one another,” Boakye explained.

Boakye said most families he serves do not own a computer. With the shutdown blocking them from public access computers at schools and libraries, they could not contact family or properly do schoolwork. He set out to find a way to help them.

His path took him to Tech Manitoba, which could help with training and Computers for Schools, which had the inventory. Boakye said he looks forward to providing 30 families with the keys to a better future.

Tech Manitoba partners with many Albert Boakyes across Manitoba, but getting computers to them when they live in remote areas is challenging, Canas said. That led her to yet another partnership, this time with Evotrux, a logistics data company that matches logistics companies with producers needing to move freight.

“When they had this initiative to get these computers moving, logistics wasn’t their space but they knew it was ours,” Evotrux CEO Daniel Santos said.

Evotrux director of sales and marketing Brendan Valks began looking for a company that travels to Northern Manitoba and which might have some space left over on the odd truck.

“I hopped on the phone, took what I know about the industry, and put the pieces together,” Valks said.

That led him to Gardewine, which checked every box, Santos said.

“It was critical to find a company that was already going up north, that had trucks mainly filled,” Santos explained.

Once all the pieces were in place, it was time to give fellow Manitobans a technological portal to the world.

Every member of this group should be commended, Tech Manitoba program director Margaux Miller said.

“They saw a need their community was facing that matched what ours was facing and together we were able to make this happen,” she said.

“It all comes full circle. It is a community that made it happen and are helping people who would otherwise be left behind.”