Working both locally and internationally, the Cornell Computer Reuse Association, a small group that formed less than two years ago, recently collected, refurbished and distributed more than 500 computers. Among the recipients were Ithaca’s Computer All Stars program and other local activities centers. Its next task: sending large shipments of computers to outdated schools in Ghana, Rwanda and Afghanistan.
The CCRA collects computers, monitors, printers and other technologies that have been replaced or broken from all over the Cornell campus. Their main contributor thus far has been from the Cornell University Library system.
“I would say that 50 percent or more of our computers come from the Cornell Library system. We’ve also gotten donations from the Service Center, Campus Life, CIT, the architecture school and individual contributions from students, faculty and staff. We are always looking for new donations because we have been giving computers away at an astounding rate,” said Al Heiman, Senior Consultant Advisor at the CIT and faculty advisor to the CCRA.
Once the computers are collected, members of the association “wipe” the hard drives clean. The computers must be completely free of old data so that no classified information about the University can be used to someone else’s advantage. After the computers have been repaired and updated, the members of the CCRA install new programs and operating systems to the computers, including anti-virus protection and word processors.
“We have to wipe every bit of data from the computers because Cornell can be fussy about leaking information to outside sources. After we have done this, we install free software to the computers like Open Office, which is available online for download,” said PuiYan Chan ‘09, president of the CCRA.
The computers are then stored until the group chooses an institution to send their donations to. Once a collective decision has been reached, the group holds a “packing party” where they tackle the mission of boxing, wrapping, taping and moving up to 100 parcels. In the past, the CCRA has had problems receiving funds to cover the expensive shipping bills.
“We have to have fundraisers to raise money in order to ship all the boxes abroad. Sometimes our advisor has had to take money out of his own pocket to cover the costs. The Student Assembly Finance Commission doesn’t provide us with any money because our activity doesn’t benefit the student body,” Chan said.
The CCRA has recently donated computers to Ithaca’s Computer All Stars Program. This program teaches children ages 10 to 19 how to fix computers and install various programs. Once the participants learn enough, they are able to repair computers for families in the greater Ithaca area.
“We have also donated to Computer All-Stars. They take computers and teach kids how to build and put them together, so they can give something back to the community later,” said Matt Valente ‘10, secretary of CCRA.