Free Geek Toronto

Free Geek Toronto www.freegeektoronto.org opened its doors in the Central West End of the city in early 2010.

The non-profit organization collects your old computers, refurbishes them, and gives them away or sells them at low cost, reducing the environmental impact of electronic waste while also offering training and job skills in computer technology and giving everyone affordable access to computers.

The first Free Geek formed in Portland, Oregon in 2000, and the movement has spread to over nine cities, including Vancouver and now Toronto.

Last year, Wayne Smith and several others put together the business plan to open the Toronto location.

“We won the Toronto Enterprise Fund annual business plan competition and received a start up grant that provides us with about one third of our budget,” explains Wayne, who is the Operations Coordinator at Free Geek Toronto. "We also have a grant from the Trillium Foundation to buy equipment."

Wayne previously spent 20 years working in the sign business and was Manager of Finance and Administration for Furniture Bank, a charity that collects furniture and gives it to refugees and others in need. Wayne then spent 2009 honing his management skills by taking a course in business administration.

Free Geek Toronto runs a depot where Torontonians can dispose of unwanted computer equipment.

“People can bring us their old computers, but we also offer a service to businesses where we will pick up their old computers for a fee and take them away,” explains Wayne. “We sell unusable electronic waste to the Ontario Environmental Stewardship Program, which disposes of electronic waste ethically and responsibly. But whenever possible, the computers are rebuilt and reused.”

Volunteers are trained to refurbish the computers, offering a valuable and free education to members of the community.

“We take the computers apart, clean them up, take out proprietary software and put in Free and Open Source software and Linux based programs,” says Wayne. “This software uses less memory, so even though these computers are old, the programs don’t run slowly.”

The refurbished computers are sold at Free Geek Toronto’s thrift store for very low prices, so people who could not otherwise afford it have the opportunity to own a computer.

As well, computers are given away for free to volunteers after they complete a certain amount of time working with Free Geek Toronto. There’s a Computer Adoption program where volunteers who work 24 hours at Free Geek’s community technology centre get to take home a computer at no cost.

Or, volunteers who want to learn the entire process of refurbishing computers from parts can join the Computer Build Program. The sixth computer they build, they take home.

Free Geek Toronto is offering a valuable service to the community, diverting computers from landfills, teaching valuable technology skills, and making low cost computers available to all. And while Free Geek Toronto is still new, word is quickly catching on. Over 58 members have already signed up as volunteers.

“We have an orientation session every Saturday at noon and pick up a couple new members every week,” says Wayne, who’s the only employee so far at Free Geek, which is governed by a board of directors.

But down the road, Free Geek Toronto hopes to provide some employment.

“We have an employment assistance program for people on disability support, to give them a few hours a week of paid work,” says Wayne.

Allstream Small Business is helping this non-profit get off the ground by offering a competitively priced telecommunications package that is geared to smaller organizations like Free Geek Toronto who require flexible and affordable communications but don’t want to be forced to buy big costly packages with a suite of services they don’t need.

When moving into their office in March 2009, Wayne called around to get prices from various telecommunications providers.

“We did our due diligence, and Allstream had the package we liked at a price we liked,” he says.

Free Geek Toronto requires only two phone lines at this time, so Wayne purchased the Allstream Small Business basic Phone 500™ bundle, which is targeted towards start-ups. It includes two lines with two calling features of your choice, business listing in local White and Yellow Pages, plus 500 US and Canada long distance minutes.

As the organization grows, Free Geek Toronto can add on lines at any time or tailor the bundle by purchasing individual phone, fax, and Internet tools as required. This keeps the package flexible and cost-effective.

Not only was the price right, Wayne says he was most impressed with the friendly customer service. The Allstream Small Business technical support team has extended hours to ensure they can get back to clients quickly.

“The people at Allstream Small Business answered the phone and called us back when we needed them to,” says Wayne. “We really liked the quality of the service.

“I would recommend Allstream Small Business because their price is competitive and the customer service is good,” he adds. “It’s a combination of the package, the price, and the people.”

Phone 500 is a trademark used under license.