Mid-Sussex Initiative Wants Old Tech For Underprivileged Kids

Colin Hill, CEO for Community For Kids, says he was approached at the end of last year by a Crawley company looking to get rid of furniture, which had a second-hand value of around £300,000.

Having made an arrangement with them to keep hold of it, Mr Hill contacted schools and charities in his network and advertised on social media.

Between November 2022 and January 15, over 60 schools and charities and even a local ambulance service got in touch and have since been provided with the furniture. These include, Milton Mount in Crawley, Carrington in Redhill, Imberhorne in East Grinstead, and Warden Park in Haywards heath. Also, some of the local SEND schools, such as St Piers have benefited from the giveaway.

Mr Hill said this was all done completely free as he was aware that schools and charities were being stretched by the cost of living crisis and he quickly realised how this would benefit the recipients and save them money.

He said:

"The impact this has and will have on schools and their students is profound and will benefit them for the next few years. Other companies are working with me and my organisation to put more in place and provide more support where it is needed as we realise, by working together, we can help many many thousands more children and help to create a more equal environment in our local areas.

"My organisation C4K: Communities for kids was founded on January 9, 2021, during the final lockdown.

"Since then, and without any funding, we have been able to support and benefit directly and indirectly 90,000 underprivileged children. This is done by helping individuals and also helping the schools and other organisations that help support the neediest in our society.

"We do not ask for thanks for what we do but we do want recognition for our work and eventually would like to get the funding to be able to take what we do to a national level, which we will eventually do with or without funding - funding will just speed things up.

Daren from Daren Cridge Real Estate agents, based in three bridges, stepped in to help manage collection and delivery for the schools.

"I plan personally to work as hard as I can to have a million children in the southeast supported either directly or indirectly by my organisation in the next year. And I would like to ask for the support of all the communities we assist to help make this a reality - the work we do is vital.

"We need more companies to donate their old tech to us so we can make it ready to be passed on to schools, unprivileged children and those suffering from social isolation and mental illness.

"We need you to let us know if you have a refurbishment happening and a few weeks available for us to arrange this to be collected."

"There are many benefits from working with us: Firstly, great PR for companies who choose to support us or donate to us; reduced impact of your carbon footprint which benefits all of us and a great social impact which helps companies keep to legal requirements around net-zero targets. More broadly a fairer more equal society for us and our children."

"Individuals who donate to us reduce their carbon footprint and can go with the knowledge they have helped someone.

"Lack of political will and a broken system where corporate greed is reflected in our current energy bills, has led to the need for organisations like my own to become necessary and to be the catalyst for real change that has a real impact with direct results for people.

"All I ask is for your support and for you to come to us with any old tech or unwanted office furniture so we can re-home with those that need it. Anything that cannot be used or re-homed we can recycle efficiently which will eventually help us fund ourselves to a point we can become national and ensure not a single child is left behind and not a single school is in need of support. We can only do this with your help."

An example of some office furniture that's been donated

Schools that have benefited from C4K's donations said:

"Through the work of Computers for kids we, at Northlands Wood Primary Academy, have been incredibly fortunate to receive a significant amount of furniture which has improved the environment around the school considerably. An office clearance afforded us this opportunity and children and staff are incredibly grateful; our school is already looking more welcoming and an even nicer place to work and learn. Thank you for your incredible support!" - Northlands Wood

"Thanks to the Computers for Kids team Warden Park Secondary and Primary Academies have been able to upgrade and improve office furniture across the whole school and also re-furnish most of our central staff room. Thank you!" - Warden Park secondary and primary

"I am so grateful for the help you gave us recently, in acquiring the new furniture for Carrington School. In a number of our workrooms, classrooms and offices we now have much better-quality desks, tables and chairs updating some older, shabbier furniture that really needed replacing.

"This makes many of our spaces feel much more professional and the students have been commenting on how “posh” these parts of their environment have suddenly become! It is good to be part of a recycling culture, working with other organisations like yours to make the most of resources." - Carrington

Mr Hill added:

"We hope to grow and help many thousands more with the help of individuals and with the help of large and small businesses together we can all make the difference."

For more information about C4K, visit www.computersforkids.org.uk and for any enquiries please email [email protected]