Six words capture the mission and work of Hubzone Technology Initiative and those six words sit right at the top of the HTI webpage for all to see:
You Donate.
We Convert.
They Receive.
Briant Davis is operations manager for Hubzone Tech, located in Garnett Street Station, the former freight station at 208 N. Garnett St.
Henderson is Hubzone Tech’s main location, although it serves the surrounding community and reaches into the Greater Triangle area.
The concept is simple, Davis said on WIZS TownTalk – refurbish donated computers and donate them to organizations to be distributed to people who need them.
It’s a way to properly recycle computers – if they can be reused, great. If they can’t, HubZone makes sure they’re disposed of properly.
By doing this, Davis said HTI can be good stewards. “We take them, we wipe them clean,” he said. After they are converted to Chromebooks, they are given to organizations that give them to those in need.
They conduct periodic donation drives, and folks may have noticed collections bins in various businesses in the area, but there’s always a bin in front of their offices – Suite F – at Garnett Street Station.
Businesses that may be doing a complete overhaul of their computers, however, need only make a phone call to HTI at 252.590.0240 to make arrangements for a courier to pick them up.
“We prefer laptops,” Davis said, “but we have downstream partners willing to take digital technology and recycle it correctly. We have ways of taking any old technology.”
Chromebooks work pretty much like any other laptops, he explained, adding that the software does a good job to ward off malware and viruses.
“As long as a person has an internet connection, a Chromebook performs very well – it’s snappy and fast.”
The HTI technicians that refurbish the computers scrub the hard drives of any data stored. They also offer COD’s – certificates of destruction – to those who want to ensure that there will be no data breaches.
“We’re very good stewards,” Davis said. “We follow government standards to make sure hard drives are completely erased.”
A team of grant writers at HTI is constantly searching for funding sources, but Davis said there are fundraisers to help them become more sustainable.
The organization also has an eBay store where it sells items and equipment that are still perfectly functional, but can’t be converted to Chromebooks.
Visit https://www.hubzonetech.org/ to learn how to make a donation, become a community partner and more. Or send an email to info@hubzonetech.org.
(This story and audio originally appeared on WIZS and WIZS.com May 18, 2023 but is being presented again at this time.)
CLICK PLAY to hear Briant Davis!