An urgent message from Lambeth TechAid
Are you passionate about narrowing the digital divide? Want to provide young people with meaningful work experience and skills? Then please consider helping Lambeth TechAid in our urgent search for premises while we apply for charity status.
What we do
Our team of amazing volunteers collect unused tech devices and repurpose them ready to go to new homes. Donations are registered though our database and then allocated to our tech team who wipe the device and install user friendly software and guidance.
We work with local community focused organisations and schools to ensure the devices go to those most in need. Getting online has never been so important, from completing a food shop to job hunting, it forms an integral part of how we conduct our day to day. The pandemic has also left many individuals isolated from loved ones, and now, more so than ever before, getting online is vital for staying in touch and ensuring positive wellbeing.
Our vision is to ensure every resident of Lambeth has access to the internet and the knowledge to use it, and give every young person the opportunity to become the accomplished individual they want to be.
“This is a marvellous service is of great benefit to those who need these devices. the fact that the charity Lambeth Techaid is completely run by volunteers is a wonderful testimony to the contribution of those who are giving their time to the community in this way. Those who give their devices can be reassured that they are being given to those in need who are benefiting enormously from your kindness.” Community Support Network South London
Since our first meeting in late March, we have grown to a team of some 25 volunteers, all working out of our own homes.
Our aims are four-fold:
- To reduce the digital divide and protect the environment by collecting and repurposing redundant smart phones, tablets and computers, and distributing them through community organisations in Lambeth to individuals and households who otherwise could not acquire them.
- To facilitate IT skills development so that device recipients can use these tools effectively.
- To work with others to ensure access to the internet for those we serve.
- To provide young residents of Lambeth with opportunities to learn, develop and practice skills required to renovate and use IT devices, to run a community-based charity and to broaden their horizons.
To date, we’ve had donations of more than 200 devices, and have more than 20 organisations on our current or pending recipients list.
But we’ve reached the point where we simply cannot go on working out of individual volunteers' homes, with a volunteer’s sitting room acting as the organisational hub and warehouse!
Two promising offers of premises both have fallen through, and we are now desperate. With donors, tech volunteers and recipients scattered all over Lambeth and beyond, logistics is a nightmare. We cannot approach businesses for equipment donations until we have the space to store and work on them. And without appropriate facilities, we cannot invite young people to get involved.
Do you know of an organisation with a disused small hall or pair of rooms we can use for 3-6 months? These are our requirements:
- One accessible location with secure space both for storage and for use ideally of 2-4 people simultaneously as a workshop and admin hub.
- Must be easy to reach via public transport
- The workshop space needs to have good ventilation to keep people working there safe. (Depending on room size, we expect to have an absolute max of 3 people per room at any one time, other than people stopping in briefly to deliver or collect devices.)
- We’ll also need tables/work benches, a few chairs, a reliable electricity supply, wifi access and shelving.
- Once we have charity status, we can raise funds to cover rent, utilities, etc, but this is certainly several months off at least. Until then, rent will have to be on a peppercorn basis.
- Ideally have access at weekends, evenings and office hours.
- Ideally can be used as a donation drop off point for the public.
If you can help, please contact Matt Luscombe matty.luscombe@gmail.com as soon as possible.
