Welcome to Computers for Classrooms
Watch our Video
CFC was started in 1991 as a volunteer program to refurbish donated computers for schools. Bruce Jans, a professional videographer, has produced a video about our program. The video should give you a good perspection about CFC and the scope of our program. Enjoy!
CFC is now a Microsoft Registered Refurbisher!
As of May 12, 2010 Microsoft has restructured the Community MAR program to the Citizenship MRR program. While there are changes at our end as far as loading and activating the programs, there are additional benefits to our clients. For the next couple of months, our non-school clients can have a choice of Microsoft Office 2003 (Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint) or Microsoft Office 2007 Basic that includes Word, Excel and Outlook. We will be installing Open Office Presentation that is compatible with MS Office Powerpoint for those families choosing Office 2007. Microsoft will be retiring Office 2003 from our offerings after our existing licenses run out.
Local Drop-Off/ Pick-Up Days for June and July
Earth Month should be every month. We are open five days a week for anyone wishing to donate their used electronics for possible reuse. If you would like us to hold an event in your city, please get in touch with us so we can see if it is feasible.
June 19th - A Successful Event in Yuba City.
Yuby City/ Marysville residents had the opportunity to drop off used electronics locally as well as making low cost computers and laptops available for purchase. This was our first event in Yuba City in a year but we will return in September. Thank you to Really Cheap TV and UCR Rapair for allowing us to set up at your Bridge Street location.
Most donation programs do not reuse your donations but demanufacture them into bales of plastic, steel, aluminum and other components. Monitors are not reused but are scrapped out so that collectors can receive .16 a pound for the destroyed item. There is such a need for monitors of all kinds and by reusing instead of recycling there is a 25 times greater benefit to the environment.
July 10 - Return to Redding
We will be coming to Redding for another opportunity to donate used electronics or to buy computers and laptops for low-income families. Check out our Redding Drop Off Flyer and meet us at Clyde's TV on July 10th. We have already received calls asking about our next trip. Save those donations and be watching for our truck in Redding once again.
Check Out Our New Tech Tips
Computer Refurbishers many want to check out the Tech Tips links. We have a discussion and tools for de-activating Windows computers and at long last a paper allowing PC Users to set up a Linux Server for multi-casting and cloning computers.
The Clonezilla SE Guide has taken longer than expected to make it easy to replicate by non-Linux users. Enjoy and please send along feedback so we can make it even better.
We also provide a simplified way of using Sysprep to load images on any make and model of computer.
1,000 Free Computers Delivered to Schools
CFC has been working with Dr. Rob Fairlie, UC,Santa Cruz, as a part of a research project to determine the benefits of having a home computer. We gave 1,000 free home computers systems to selected schools in Chico, Marysille, Yuba City, Sacramento and Fresno. The first round of 500 donated computers was made last fall. The final round was delivered to the schools recently.
Pat Furr was invited by the Sacramento City Unified School District School Board meeting to receive an award acknowleding the receipt of 400 computers given to Sacramento middle school children.
We are awaiting the results of Dr. Fairlie's research. It will take some time to receive the final data from the schools and to evaluate the results. It may help us to understand the value of reusing computer systems and the benefits to an individual's educational opportunities.
Computers for Haiti
Computers for Classrooms recently donated laptops for the relief efforts in Haiti. Vanessa Michel-Aguilar is working on a doctoral thesis and living in Chico, CA. Her father is the director of a relief agency in Haiti.
The laptops have arrived!
Just in time! The rainy season has started and there is a desperate need for tents and housing. The crowded conditions are made even worse by the lack of drainage, sanitation and sufficient medical supplies of all kinds. If you can help in any way please contact Vanessa and her father's charitable organization in Haiti.
Computers for Tanzania
The entire Chico community came together to assist two villages in Tanzania, Africa. Ronald Reed, a local attorney, has been traveling to Tanzania each summer to assist the communities by furnishing equipment, knowledge and labor in bringing wells and water to the villages. He asked if CFC could help the schools by providing computer systems, networking equipment and a video projector for training. Electricity has only recently come to the area. The nearest Internet is still 30 miles away.
The student's of Pleasant Valley High School through the Globally Conscious Youth (GCY) club and the efforts of their instructor, Charlie Copeland, put on a series of fund raising events to support the cause. With the money they raised, the space in the container furnished by Ron Reed, and the systems set up by CFC the combined effort made it happen. We are hoping for photos from Tanzania once the project has been completed. Communities can come together to make a difference!
Wonderful stories about this project can be found at ChicoSol.