By Deirdre Huston
Nearby Holy Trinity Cuckfield School takes a delivery of IT equipment
Recently, a news item grabbed Colin Hill’s attention. Shocked to learn there are currently 1.8 million children in the UK who do not have a device on which to learn from home, he found two old devices, which had been sitting unused in his home, and wiped them. “Then I popped a message onto Facebook,” says Colin, “saying any local kids in need of a device were welcome to my old machines, and it all sprung from there.”
The response was incredible. Colin had over 100 responses from local people in need of devices, but, thankfully, there were also plenty of people saying they also had devices available. “It was the start of something very positive,” recalls Colin.
The first two machines went to a local family, where one of the four children has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Colin prioritises the most vulnerable families, and he believes that if pupils can stay at home and study effectively, it will help slow the spread of the virus. He is driven by a desire to improve equality.
About two days after his first post, Pixel Computing in Burgess Hill offered to wipe and clean the devices. And Tubbs Computer Supplies now help with storage. “We’ve built a deployment server and we’ve put it in there too,” explains Colin, “so that we can prepare multiple machines at once. We are interested in machines that support home learning - Apple 4 onwards (4th generation iPads or later), or ideally Windows 7 onwards, as they can then be upgraded to Windows 10 easily and run more of the programmes used by schools.”
In a few short weeks, Colin and his team of volunteers have already helped between 400 and 450 families, but they now have a waiting list of over a thousand families in Sussex. Holy Trinity School in Cuckfield has taken delivery of several devices recently. As well as being referred through schools and the church, families in need sometimes approach the organisation directly through Facebook.
Computers for Kids is in the process of becoming a charity and Colin is grateful that several people have stepped forward to be trustees. However, in the meantime, they can’t apply for grants. Computers for Kids are looking at premises to store and distribute more machines and have started a GoFundMe page
to help make this possible. “We’ve recently partnered with BT too,” explains Colin. “It’s one thing to give the families the devices, but they also need to be connected to the internet and BT have provided vouchers towards free bandwidth.”
Thankfully, about 25 volunteers have come forward, including Cuckfield residents Vicky, Debbie and Anne. “We still need more volunteers,” says Colin, “especially people who understand computers enough to be able to delete all data from the devices using a three-pass wipe.”
If you know a child in need of a device, have a device which could be wiped and reconditioned, or would like to volunteer your skills, see www.computersforkids.org.uk