Welcome to The Laptop Ministry

How we got started....

This initiative started when I first moved into my neighborhood of Edgewater Chicago when a survivor of trafficking reached out to me needing a laptop for Zoom back in late 2021. The laptop I had to offer was rather old however I made it work to meet the needs of the individual. Since then I started a social media group on Facebook to center the focus on receiving donated laptops from folks I know and folks in the Edgewater vicinity and refurbish them for those in need. With grace and support of the community and neighbors, I have been fortunate enough to be able to give back to my community to those who need laptops while advocating against planned obsolescence reality of creating technically unnecessary e-waste as well as making it difficult for folks on fixed incomes or no income to keep up. By focusing easy to use distributions of Linux that provide up to date access to resources that the laptops otherwise would not support with modern proprietary operating systems (such as Windows and OS/X), these laptops get a new lease of life. In spite of these machines no longer being qualified for security updates from their manufacturer, they’re actually safe to use thanks to Linux with its up to date security still being maintained regardless of a laptop’s aging hardware. Twenty-five laptops have been distributed before the Ministry and since this initiative was adopted as a Ministry, as of the middle of October, almost thirty laptops have been distributed since the beginning of September. I encourage other folks in their communities to run a similar initiative or ministry. It is one of my goals to provide a model to others to adopt in giving laptops to others. On August 15th 2023, this initiative was officially adopted as a Ministry of the Peoples Church of Chicago.