In with the old

Marisa O’Neil

Old computers never die, they just sit in the garage collecting dust

after newer, faster models replace them.

Paul DeMarco and the Seafaring Masonic Lodge of Newport Beach hope

people on Saturday will donate their glorified paperweights -- like

that old 133 megahertz desktop that seemed so state-of the-art when

it came out. The lodge plans to refurbish the old computers to donate

to a Costa Mesa elementary school.

“My computer just died and I thought: ‘What should I do with it?’”

DeMarco said. “No one wants old computers. You can sell them for

maybe $50. But if they’re capable of running [Microsoft] Word and are

being thrown away, why should people do that when they could get a

tax-deductible receipt?”

After talking to his girlfriend, a fifth-grade teacher at

Killybrooke Elementary School, DeMarco thought that even older

computers would still help students write their papers.

“She was telling me how students’ papers were coming back to her

and I realized a lot of kids don’t have computers and can’t find

typewriters. And most classrooms don’t have any or only have one or

two for the whole class.”

Computers collected will go to fifth- and sixth-graders at

Killybrooke.

Because the school’s network requires a Pentium III processor or

higher, those computers can go to the school. But the children will

get the old dinosaurs that can still manage basic word processing.

“Some will go to students directly to take home and be theirs,”

DeMarco said. “Some of the faster ones can be in the classrooms.”

All the computers will be prepped for word processing and Internet

access. If they don’t have modems, DeMarco said, the lodge will

provide some. Members will clean and fix up the computers, making

sure no inappropriate material is on them.

On Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., DeMarco and fellow mason Rich

Allum will collect the unwanted computers, printers, monitors and

other hardware at the Seafaring Masonic Lodge, 1401 E. 15th St. in Newport Beach. Donors will receive a receipt for tax-deduction

purposes.

This is the first such computer collection by the lodge, DeMarco

said. If it is successful, they will plan more in the future.

“I’d love to get 400 computers and give one to every kid and move

on to the next school,” he said.