Don Bard, president of the Lazarus Foundation, has always liked fixing things.
And it was that ingrained penchant, as well as a need he saw in the community, that led him to create a nonprofit organization that today provides hundreds of recycled computers each year to local nonprofits and educational institutions.
“The idea of getting something that was nonfunctional and bringing it back to life, that?s where we got the name Lazarus Foundation from,” Bard said. “It?s a labor of love, but there is a lot of enjoyment. Helping the organizations and individuals ? that?s the compensation we get.”
When the Columbia-based organization got its start in the early 1990s, it began collecting donated computers from local residents and businesses who were upgrading their systems.
Bard said that many of these computers were no longer functional, but by taking parts from other donated computers, he and his team of volunteers were able to make them work again. Nonprofits that needed computers could then purchase them for a highly discounted price.
Today, the organization only accepts computers that are Pentium III or faster. The computers are then tested and restored to working condition, and Windows 98 SE or Windows 2000 is installed on each machine. Bard estimates the organization receives 1,500 to 2,000 computers annually. The rest are used for parts.
As the organization has grown, it has also formalized a partnership with the Howard County Public School system to teach students the art of computer recycling. For its part, the school system provides the nonprofit with space for its operations.
“We have a lot of kids who are very interested in technology and some of that is on the hardware side,” said Patti Caplan, a spokeswoman with Howard County Public Schools.
Duane St. Clair, president of Communities of Care, a Baltimore nonprofit that provides computers to grandparents raising grandchildren, said his organization would not be able to provide nearly as many computers to seniors without an organization like Lazarus Foundation.
“They?ve been very helpful to us in terms of being able to provide this resource at a cost that is much less than if we had to purchase them new,” St. Clair said. “It means we can provide computers to twice as many grandparents.”
To donate
» To donate a computer, bring it to the organization?s workshop at the Applications & Research Laboratory at 10920 Route 108, Ellicott City. For directions and times of operation, call 410-531-8485.
