World Peace Center - Laptops of Love

Laptops of Love

Many of the situations in which World Peace Center volunteers find themselves are fraught with inconvenience. We move from location to location, work out of the trunks of our cars, and deliver services from the backs of vans. In developing nations, we live and work alongside other volunteers and charitable organizations under tarps and in temporary structures that are constructed of scavenged and natural materials.

Although many of these primitive structures have been in use for decades, they are makeshift at best. Made of bamboo wood frames and siding with eucalyptus wood poles for support, most are typically huts with teak leaf, wood-thatched roofs. The only electricity in many of these remote areas is produced by generators and, as such, is unstable. There are usually no telephones, televisions, nor Internet; sometimes even water for washing and sanitation has to be pumped in or carried in on a daily basis.

Desktop computers, along with being heavy, bulky and impractical to transport, tend to be short lived under such conditions. Laptops are not only easier to carry in backpacks and such; they also prove to survive more efficiently in underdeveloped, less-than-ideal settings.

Where US consumers purchase over 4 million new computers a year, many people are still uncertain as to how to donate their old equipment to a worthy cause. Thus, many perfectly good, reusable machines are stockpiled in closets, garages and storerooms. World Peace Center established Laptops of Love as a venue for acquiring older model, working laptops from businesses and individuals who are upgrading to newer technology.

Reuse vs. Recycle

For the health and well-being of future generations, the harmful materials involved in the reuse, disposal, and recycling of used computer equipment must always be considered. Where a single computer can contain up to 5 pounds (approx. 2kg) of lead, mercury, and beryllium, these damaging toxins need to be kept from ending up in landfills and contaminating our air and water. Industry recyclers often suggest that all electronic equipment be crushed and recycled for raw materials. In our experience, however, WPC volunteers can get years of useful life out of an older, reusable machine that might otherwise "go to waste." Therefore, as new technology replaces old, we urge people to realize that their older model laptops and computers can be easily donated for reuse to benefit our nonprofit cause.

To a developing nonprofit organization like World Peace Center, reusable working laptops are vital to our purpose. Rather than give away a used laptop to a recycler who is apt to only strip it apart for scrap, most people would prefer to donate their reusable equipment to a cause they can identify with. Making an in-kind donation of a computer or laptop opens the opportunity for our many blessed donors to give back to others who are less fortunate.

Minimum Specifications

Laptops of Love offers a viable way of making a meaningful contribution in which your old laptop will be used as a Godsend. In conjunction with our various outreach services, we put to immediate good use any and all working PDAs, cellphones and Pentium III, 450 MHz and above laptops. When you donate your used computers, notebooks, hand-helds, power adaptors and peripherals (i.e., external floppy/CD drives, etc.), you not only help ease the toxic overload on local landfills; you also help make a significant difference in the lives of people in need.

Tax Credit and Fair Market Value

As part of the donation process, World Peace Center promptly emails you a printer-friendly thank you note/receipt in the form of a Word.doc attachment, which you can print out and retain for your records. Rather than assign a value to donated equipment, we describe the donation in detail, say how much it is helping our efforts, and leave the determination of fair market value to you to decide.

Since the market value of computer equipment falls rapidly, it is a wise to donate early and to document the value of the equipment at that time. The fair market value of a used item is equivalent to the price that a "willing buyer" would pay to a "willing seller." Often the best way to determine this is ro research "for sale" ads either online or in the newspaper. A free, used laptop estimator is also available on the Internet at CashForLaptops. We recommend that all donors consult with a tax advisor regarding the tax effects of their gift(s).

Erasure & Security of Data

Although you may want to clear all personal data from your computer before donating it (this is advisable), WPC also immediately deletes any and all personal information stored on the hard drive(s) when we receive it. This approach secures the privacy of your data, preventing the possibility of its being accessed inadvertently. We then assign the machine to a single volunteer, who uses it to organize local projects and, when appropriate, hand-carries it to Third World countries where other undersupplied volunteers have access to it and may take custody of it.

When a machine has lived out its life with us and is ready to be retired, we pass it along to one of several nonprofit organizations that guarantee to remove all existing software from the computer, thereby completely eradicating all data that has been previously stored on the hard drive(s). Such radical technical action thoroughly destroys any trace of previously existing information and guarantees that it cannot in any way be retained, recovered or passed on knowingly or unknowingly.

Shipping Costs

World Peace Center and Laptops of Love rely solely on recycled laptops from people just like you for all the computers and laptops we use. In and around the Las Vegas area, we pick up and accept deliveries. From elsewhere within the contiguous United States, when newer model Powerbooks G4, iBooks G4 and Pentiums IV and above machines are donated to us and arrive in excellent mechanical condition, we are available on a case-by-case basis to reimburse shipping via ground (UPS Brown or FEDEX Green) or US Post Office Priority ^®Mail Flat-Rate Box ($9.80) and Priority ^®Mail Large Flat-Rate Box ($12.95). Otherwise, in most instances, we request that all in-kind donations include the cost of delivery.

Please tell your friends and family about World Peace Center, about Laptops of Love and about the environmental hazards of indiscriminately disposing of old computers. Reusable equipment in good working order serves a vital need for our many volunteers and the people they serve.

If you need tips on how to safely pack and prepare a laptop for shipping, please see the guidelines below. For additional questions or concerns, we invite you to telephone us at 702-451-1102, to email us at world_peace_center@yahoo.com or to use the contact form at the bottom of the page. In all email correspondence, please include a complete and accurate description of the reusable, working equipment you wish to donate. We will also be able to use all the manuals, booklets, CDs, adapters, sync cables, packaged software, or any other accessories that came with the computer. A World Peace Center volunteer will get back to you promptly.

Thanks in advance for your interest. "May Peace Prevail on Earth."

World Peace Center
Belshire Drive / Spring Valley
Las Vegas, NV 89147
tel. 702-451-1102

World Peace Center
P.O. Box 2-110
Ratchadamnoen Post Office
Bangkok, 10200 Thailand
tel. 66-(0)-694-55569

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In readying a laptop for donation, please keep the following in mind:

1. If you are donating a laptop with a pre-installed Microsoft operating system, please consider that the license is only valid when used on the original OEM machine on which it was first installed. Since, as a charitable organization, World Peace Center cannot afford to purchase and license new operating systems, keeping the machine and operating system together will substantial a legal transfer and will be most helpful. That means providing us with the original disks, media, and documentation that came with the PC when it was purchased. Including your proof of license will also help facilitate a legal transfer of the operating system.

2. Please do your best to furnish us with as much software as possible that goes with the donated computer. A 4-year-old computer, for example, runs best with 4-year-old software. It often runs much slower on new software, or it won't run at all. If the computer came with Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP or the like, we would appreciate that you provide us the media (the CD or disks), and the manual that usually contains the Certificate of Authenticity. Original software disks also usually have device drivers necessary to make the computer run properly and the operating and technical manuals needed for fixing the machine.

3. Please remember the accessories. If you can, please include the mouse, modem, manuals, booklets, CDs, AC adapter, sync cables, packaged software, or any other accessories with the computer. World Peace Center can most likely put all that to good use.

4. Although World Peace Center deletes all personal information from all donated computers upon delivery and gets a written guarantee that any trace of previously existing data will be eradicated and rendered non-recoverable should we eventually retire and/or pass a computer along, you may also want to clean your hard drive of personal data on your own. The best way to do this is to use a pre-proven disk cleaning utility that overwrites data, so that is non-recoverable. Some donors have repoted satisfactory results using online downloadable programs such as Erase 5.7; others have reported complete "computer meltdowns" upon downloading such utilities. This, obviously, is an area in which to exercise extreme caution. A dead computer is, at that point, good only for scrap.

5. Quick Tips for Packing Used Computer Equipment for Transit

Pack items extremely well.
Separate large or heavy items into multiple boxes.
Isolate big items from each other so they don't bang together.
Double box as appropriate if possible.
Bubble wrap is your friend; Styrofoam is not.
Tape the boxes securely and thoroughly.
Choose your shipper carefully.

6. You may also want to include our phone number (702-451-1102).

Please call or email ahead of time to verify our specific shipping address. Thank you.

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