Hi, and welcome to the first of what will (hopefully) be a regular series of blog posts designed to keep you up to date with the latest IT ReUse news.

First of all, we want to give a big ‘thank you’ to each and every volunteer who has given their time to the project in recent months. We have been fortunate enough to benefit from the hard work of two volunteers from United Response, and two from Boxxe. Friday the 22nd of July saw the workshop full to the brim with four volunteers and two members of staff – a far cry from two volunteers and two laptops in a spare room – how IT ReUse began.

This busyness was reflected in the number of devices going out. Last month, 21 individuals in need received devices free of charge from us – a great achievement for the project and more lives changed for the better.

July also saw a long-time volunteer, Andrew, receive a short term paid contract to help us cover the demand the service has been seeing.

“I find the role extremely satisfying and enjoyable” he said. “My responsibilities have increased – and it’s great to feel more of the immediate and profound impact what we do here has.”

There have also been some more procedural and marketing related developments we’d like to share with you all. With more time to spend on the project, Andrew has been helping to redesign our database from the ground up – to ensure more efficient and streamlined processes are in place, and that our ability to handle high stock levels and large donations is better than ever.

Outwardly, are marketing efforts have been ramping up again. With the help of a head of department at The University of York, we managed to get an appeal for donations onto the 4,500 strong staff digest, which we will hope will bring interest that will aid in covering the historic demand we now see for devices. This contact at the university has also been advising us as to what changes we can make to further improve the digital privacy and safety of our clients.

And that’s all for this roundup. We hope you’ll continue to follow our updates, as we continue to close the digital divide in York.

Thank you!