Refurbished computers help mental health association

Since April, the Knights of Columbus of Divine Infant – in partnership with the Orléans-Cumberland Community Resource Centre (OCCRC) and Gloucester’s Bloom MicroTech – have run an initiative that refurbishes donated computer systems and hands them back out to community members in need.

The Knights have established a recent connection with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), explains Knights chairperson Doug Drouillard.

The CMHA “is a group I’d been wanting to touch base with,” he continues. “We certainly thought the computers could be of great benefit.”

The first system given to the CMHA last week went to a volunteer who works from their home and required computer access, Drouillard recounts. The second, a CMHA client, is a local poet in need of a computer to further her work, he adds. “We were really pretty excited about it,” describes Christine Gagné, a vocational support specialist with the CMHA. “It’s hard to get a refurbished system for any of our clientele.”

The need for computer and online access for CMHA clients is fairly high, she says, explaining about 20 per cent of the group’s 900 clients frequently request computers or technology courses. Having that access means a world of new possibilities for users, Gagné suggests, including skills upgrades, job searching or even going back to school. “We’re always looking for opportunities to help them gain access to resources in the community,” she adds.

Another exciting development for the Knights was receiving their official Microsoft license, meaning volunteers are able to outfit computers as a non-profit group, Drouillard continues. By the end of next week, seven computers will have gone out with the operating system installed, replacing the previously-used Linux, he says. The Knights have also decided to absorb the cost and time required to update any other computers initially handed out without Microsoft, he explains.

At the OCCRC, meanwhile, the program continues to be a major success, adds program manager Liliane Falardeau.

So far, “they’re matching it very well to each person’s abilities and knowledge,”

Falardeau stresses the initiative wouldn’t be possible without the Knights. “We don’t have the facilities or the capacity to run this ourselves,” she explains. “We can’t do it without the Knights of Columbus.”

Gagné, meanwhile, says the partnership with the Knights of Columbus is one she hopes to see last into the long-term. “I hope this will be an enduring partnership,” Gagné adds. “There’s a pretty big need.” For more information, please contact Doug Drouillard at knights-refurb@sympatico.ca or 613-830-3518.