GRANITE FALLS, NC (October 13, 2021) — Fourth-grade teachers and students at Granite Falls Elementary School recently received a donation of 32 refurbished Lenovo Chromebooks and 8 iPads. Save the Machine, a local non-profit, donated the devices to help support students and teachers as they improve and expand their digital learning skills. The Chromebook donation allowed several classrooms to convert to a 1-to-1 status, meaning every student will have a device. Also, as Caldwell County Schools purchases new Chromebooks, most of the donated devices will go home with students ensuring they have a device at home that can be used as a learning tool. “Before the donation we were sharing devices from a few carts to have enough for a whole classroom. The additional Chromebooks mean we don’t have to take from another cart. Now, I have enough devices for each student,” said fourth-grade teacher Caitlyn Council.
Chromebooks have rapidly emerged as the go-to instructional technology learning tool in schools. They became more important as Covid has required remote-learning options in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years. When Save the Machine received a large donation of broken Chromebooks this summer, they knew they wanted to get these back out into the hands of students. “With newer technology, our primary goal is to try and refurbish it and get it back out into the world or, for the items beyond repair, get them to a recycling facility and out of landfills” said Save the Machine Vice-President Brandon Price. “We wanted to get those Chromebooks back into classrooms where they would be most useful,” added Price.
Save the Machine is primarily focused on displaying and preserving older, vintage technologies from the 1960s to early 2000s. However, they often get donations of modern equipment. Through their Tech Reuse Program, Save the Machine hopes to limit e-waste by refurbishing the still useful devices that are donated. “Prior to Covid we had a small museum set up in the HUB Station in Hudson. Since then we have moved into storage and set up small displays at events;” said Price “While we may not have a current ‘home’, we are still operational and looking for ways to share our mission and give back to our local community through our Tech Reuse Program”. Any organization or individuals looking to donate or receive equipment or technology through the Tech Reuse Program can contact Save the Machine through their website, www.savethemachine.org.
Press Release courtesy of Brandon Price
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