I had about 20-30 old computers in my garage that were in varying state of repair. I put an ad on the"free stuff" section of the local Craigslist. My ad was very descriptive regarding the equipment and its operational state, as I didn't want to be answering questions over-and-over again.
After a couple of days, I had gotten about a dozen inquiries to my ad. One really stuck out. It was from a gentleman who told me that he was a disabled veteran. He had taken on a mission to provide computer equipment for other disabled veterans so that they could keep in touch with families and friends. I had never heard of this guy, but the interesting thing was that he provided a list of references to prove he was for real. I happened to know one of the people that he listed from the local VFW. I contacted that person and was told that everything was on the up-and-up.
I invited the gentleman over to my place so he could inspect what I had. He said, "I don't need to inspect anything. I'll just take it all. If something doesn't work, I'll just scavenge the parts." He also told me what he does with the computers. He:
- Builds the best possible configuration with what he has available
- Installs Linux on the PC
- Gives the PC to the next vet that he has on his list
- Sets up the machine (including dial-up Internet access)
- Trains the vet in its use
We set up a time the next day for him to come over and pick up everything. In the meantime, I decided to go through what I had and built about 10 complete systems according to his specs.
He pulled up at my place driving an old, beat up Caddy. I watched his practiced precision as he opened the door, threw his wheelchair to the ground, and moved into it using only his upper-body. He came into the garage and was genuinely thrilled about the prospect of helping out so many other vets so quickly.
Over the next few days, he would stop by and load up the Caddy until he had cleaned out all of the equipment. I wound up giving him about $200 to pay for Internet access for a couple of people for a year. It felt good to pay a couple of hundred bucks to give stuff away for free.