When Baltimore resident Julie Smith got the call that her daughter, Lindsay Smith, would receive a free computer, she was stunned.
“I said, ‘No, you’re kidding me,’ ” Julie Smith said. “I was like, ‘This can’t be true.’ ”
But about a week later, the Smith family had a computer in their home for 16-year-old Lindsay, who has cerebral palsy.
The computer came from The Buddy Project, a nonprofit that gives refurbished computers to people with disabilities.
Beginnings of Buddy Project
Frederick resident Eric Zimmerman, who founded the group in October 2007, had worked for Best Buddies International, which matches people with special needs to a volunteer as a way to form a friendship.
Zimmerman, who has Asperger’s, a form of autism, was placed into Best Buddies and later found a job doing data entry for it.
Zimmerman began to notice that many people with disabilities did not have an e-mail address, so in September 2007, he decided to start an organization to help them have access to their own computer and e-mail address.
“A lot of the people with special needs’ families won’t let them use their computer, because they’re scared they’ll delete a file, so they don’t learn how to use a computer,” Zimmerman said.
In December, Zimmerman was laid off from Best Buddies because of funding issues, just as The Buddy Project began to take off.
One-man operation
Now, Zimmerman is the sole employee and chairman of The Buddy Project, along with eight board members. He lives off his disability check, which he also uses for some of the funding for the organization.
The Buddy Project receives donated computers from companies with a surplus, local governments and individuals. Zimmerman stores them and works on them at his house before delivering them to people. Recipients of the computers first complete an application they receive from one of several advocacy groups for people with disabilities.
After Zimmerman receives the application, he places the individual on a waiting list. The list has 96 people and amounts to a four-month wait.
The Buddy Project distributed its first computer in February and has since distributed 30 computers. The group also promises another computer for recipients every two years.
Strike for Lindsay
The Smith family received an application in the mail this summer.
Julie Smith filled out the application after calling Zimmerman to see whether it was a hoax. Her daughter, Lindsay, received a computer a few weeks later.
Lindsay uses her computer to play games, like a bowling one with polar bears. She sits in her pink outfit with pink shoes and uses the computer mouse to play.
When Lindsay gets a strike, her mother cheers. Julie Smith is also grateful that Lindsay has a fun activity to do at home.
“It gives her something else to do other than sitting around and watching videos,” Julie Smith said.
“Since she can’t get outside and play, this gives her more to do.”
When Lindsay’s computer was not working once, Zimmerman came out to fix it the next day.
In the future, Zimmerman hopes to start a computer-training program for people with disabilities. He also hopes to have an e-mail system.
For now, the first step is funding.
“It’s really taking off,” Zimmerman said. “There’s a need there.”
