We want to gift laptops to 30 vulnerable families & individuals in Edinburgh to alleviate social isolation and end digital poverty.
by The Edinburgh Remakery in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
With an additional £5,000 we will be able to support a whopping 60 families and individuals living without connectivity throughout Edinburgh, helping those who are vulnerable to stay connected with their communities, their families, and the support they need.
Our vision is to create a community where everyone has the means to access essential online support services and connect to their loved ones.
Lockdown may now be easing, but millions of people across the UK are still suffering as a result of the digital divide and growing social inequalities, which prevents so many from being able to connect with their communities, support systems, and friends and family. The Guardian recently reported that a million over-65s are still at risk of loneliness as UK lockdown eases.
Through this campaign, we hope to raise £5,000 so that we can gift a free laptop to 30 families and individuals who are living in disadvantaged and vulnerable circumstances, helping to alleviate loneliness and social isolation that have resulted from digital poverty.
The Edinburgh Remakery is an award-winning environmental social enterprise. Our mission is:
Since opening our doors in 2016, the Edinburgh Remakery has grown, developed and evolved to meet the changing needs of the Edinburgh community and the world around us. What began as a modest repair and reuse social enterprise serving the Leith community, has become an Edinburgh staple, a one-stop shop for affordable and quality, refurbished electronics; an avenue for businesses across the UK to pass on their end-of-life IT equipment; and a helping hand for many suffering from digital poverty and social isolation throughout Edinburgh and beyond.
One of the most prominent social issues to come from last year's lockdown was the increased threat of digital exclusion, social isolation and chronic loneliness, most especially for older generations, individuals and families in poverty.
The Edinburgh Remakery’s most developed and thriving department is IT refurbishment and repair. It allows us to take in secondhand laptops and computers, and give them a new lease of life, passing some of these onto people who otherwise would not be able to afford them.
As lockdown began it became clear that this service would be even more needed in the current climate, and so we put all of our time and effort into providing more people in need, more families and individuals, with free laptops and computers allowing them to access healthcare, home-schooling, education, the job market and, importantly, stay connected with the outside world and loved ones.
In 2020 we raised funds and combined this with our IT repair skills to give 345 devices to those who needed them most.
Beneficiaries of our laptop gifting service have included members of The Ripple, a local project committed to sustainably tackling poverty and inequality across some of the most deprived areas in Scotland. These laptops will help their beneficiaries continue with their education, including home-schooling and college courses, and also help alleviate social isolation.
Laptops were also given to families and single mothers through Canongate Youth ad Citadel Youth organisations. These helped them to ensure that they could continue home-schooling their young children as schools closed, accessing essential online education and support which otherwise would have been out of their reach.
So many of us have a mobile phone and a laptop or computer that it’s easy to forget what a privilege having these belongings is and how inaccessible they are to those who can’t afford them.
Our ongoing pledge is to:
We want to continue to provide this essential service to marginalised groups and those in poverty across Edinburgh, but we need your help to do it.
£5,000 will mean that we can fully refurbish and repair 30 quality and high-spec devices to be gifted to these groups.
We are committed to providing quality and high-spec devices to ensure that they are as user-friendly as possible, allowing the beneficiaries to make the most of the devices in as simple a way as possible.
Groups that we will target with these donations include families on low income or those who are unemployed who need help with home schooling and access to the online job market; those aged over 65 who are unable to easily leave their homes to see family and friends or take part in community activities, and would otherwise suffer from social isolation and chronic loneliness.
Every single penny donated to us will help us reach our target and help more people in need in our City. Below we have outlined what your donations will help us to achieve, giving you an idea of how much the items needed for each gifted piece of equipment will cost.
£5 - is roughly the cost of a mouse which can make using a laptop that much easier and more inclusive
£20 - would pay for a replacement battery for one of the laptops
£50 - would pay for all of the replacement parts needed to repair one one of the laptops to be gifted
£175 - would pay for the replacement parts and all the full refurbishment needed on a laptop and mouse to be gifted to a family or individual in need
£350 - would pay for two fully refurbished laptops each with a mouse to help two vulnerable families or people get connected
Please support us by donating today and sharing our campaign with your networks, so that we can eliminate loneliness and help those in need get connected today.
This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.