Computers headed for the landfill can have a second life in the hands of students across the region through Animas Underground Electronics.
The shop on Main Avenue recently started accepting used computers and refurbishing them for students with limited access to technology.
The computers are given to the San Juan Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which distributes them to students in need, said Shane Nelson, who helped organize the program. San Juan BOCES works with eight school districts across the region.
“Students unequipped and unfamiliar with technology are unable to meet the expectations and demands of the current academic culture,” Nelson, an intern school psychologist with BOCES, said in an email.
The computers become the students’ personal property because limited exposure to technology at school is not enough to prepare them for college, he said.
Donating a computer also helps keep technology out of the landfill, he said.
Animas Underground Electronics will accept desktops, laptops, tablets or iPads manufactured in 2005 or later at its shop, 501 Main Ave.
The devices are wiped clean of any personal information from the previous owner, Nelson said.
The devices are restored to function like Google Chromebook computer.
The donation program started about three weeks ago. So far, Animas Underground has received 10 desktops and laptops.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
