Generous firm is supplying laptops for school kids during pandemic

Adam Vause from Wigan pitched the idea to donate pre-loved kit to provide for underprivileged chi ldren within the community to support remote education.

Due to lockdown, schools have been forced to temporarily close, which could ultimately affect how children learn.

Adam, Chief Executive Officer of Leigh-based Express IT Group, explained why it is important for youngsters to have access to technology.

He said: “Education is key for children, missing six to 10 months of school is quite damaging, so we really need to get this out there and we don’t know how long Covid-19 is going to go on for.

“We know that obviously if they haven’t got access to technology in areas of deprivation, that causes problems.

“The more they have access to technology, the more they can utilise that to benefit the children and the careers for the future.”

Mr Vause believes it is a much-needed campaign that they decided to run, with not just COVID-19, but with the economy, people losing jobs and kids not having access to education.

Adam said: “I pitched the idea to refurbish these laptops because we get laptops donated from our clients, so, I was like, ‘these laptops just go to recycle centres, they do not get repurposed in any way.’

“I thought that was a shame so I thought there must be kids out there that need access to technology.”

He added: “It’s our future generation effectively and if we do not look after them and give them the education that they need or get them the tools to this digital age to have good education then what does tomorrow look like?”

The IT group is asking people to call them and arrange collections to ensure that it is Covid safe. The team are also asking schools to fill in an expression of interest to see how many laptops the schools need.

However, the numbers depend on how many donations they receive in total.

Mr Vause said: “The donation will have a massive impact, you’ve got kids from different age ranges and it’s very difficult for them to focus and study.

“So effectively we’re asking for businesses who’ve got cupboards full of old IT equipment, laptops full of IT kits they’ve bought and don’t need.

“We’ve found the best way to get rid of it by just giving it to somebody else and make use of it.”

He added: “There are concerns over data protection so being an IT provider who helps with that, we’ve got the regulations to destroy the data to make sure it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.”

By making a single public post, there has already been a positive reaction from the public with around 50 donations already made to the company.

Mr Vause said: “The end goal is to make sure to give every kid a chance of having a good education.

“Laptops are expensive, and they don’t need to be super powerful to do basic essential education.I want to give children a chance; they’ve already had a rough time with Covid and nobody anticipated that.”

If you want to help donate, please call 01942 604222 for further details, or visit the Express IT Group on Facebook.

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