By Steve Huffman
Salisbury Post
On Monday, members of Students in Training hit the mother lode ó more than 400 pieces of computer equipment donated by the Hefner VA Medical Center.
“The VA donates the most and some of the best,” said Brian Moye, a senior at Catawba and business manager for Students in Training (SIT).
The haul that SIT claimed Monday twice filled the back of a truck that had been rented for the move.
The equipment was moved from the VA to SIT’s offices in the basement of Innes Street Drug Co. on South Main Street.
Moye said the haul included about 200 computer monitors and another 200 miscellaneous pieces of computer equipment.
“We’ll use as much as we can, and what we can’t use whole, we’ll disassemble and use for parts,” said Bill Lowry, operations manager for SIT.
SIT is a non-profit group whose members occupy their after-school hours rebuilding computers for those who might not otherwise be able to afford such equipment.
SIT is made up primarily of middle school and high school students, learning plenty about the latest in computer technology while also giving back to their community.
“We’ve got freshmen in high school designing Web sites,” Moye said. “These kids are doing amazing work.”
Moye and Lowry said the VA and Catawba College are the two biggest contributors to SIT.
“What we can refurbish and reuse, we give to the folks in the community who are on the wrong side of the digital divide,” Lowry said.
He said there’s a waiting list with more than 100 names of individuals seeking computers from SIT. “There’s a qualifying process,” Lowry said.
He said those who get computers from SIT might use them in any number of ways to improve their lot in life.
They’re able, Lowry said, to use their computers to search for jobs and update their resumes.
Moye and Lowry said they accept computer donations as they become available. The two of them worked to load the computers Monday at the VA, and the students involved in the program helped unload them at SIT’s offices.
“You’ve got to take ’em where you can get ’em,” Moye said of the donation of computer equipment. “Sometimes they trickle in and sometimes they pour in like this.”
Contact Steve Huffman at 704-797-4222 or shuffman@salisburypost.com.