Providing Students in Haiti with Needed Technology – Can you help?
Peter Greenberg
Greetings, Friends of Sustainability!
I am the owner of Energy Wise Services, a solar installation company in Albany that has been a Sustainability Coalition partner organization since 2008. But providing Oregon residents, schools, commercial customers and nonprofits with solar services is not all that we do.
My company has funded solar for a few thousand kids in schools without electricity in Haiti, I am on the Board of Brighten Haiti (https://www.brightenhaiti.org/) where we bring low cost solar to schools, medical clinics and other nonprofits in Haiti. These facilities don't have utility electricity or rely on expensive, polluting diesel generators for electricity. Over 50% of Haiti doesn't have access to electricity.
Along with the solar systems we install, we have worked with a nonprofit that provides refurbished laptops to other nonprofits in Haiti. They have translated over 8,000 books into Creole, French and English, providing a huge educational asset to those facilities that we provide electricity for. But after 28 years, that nonprofit is shutting down. They have been providing 15 laptops per 300 students for the schools we have installed solar in, along with a server that holds all of the data.
We are looking for someone or a group to take over – to find donated laptops, clear the hard drives, refurbish them if needed, and work with us to get them to the schools we work with in Haiti. Can you help?
Imagine being in a sweltering school with no lights, no fans, no computers and either no electricity or overpriced, polluting, and unreliable diesel generators for power. These students need our help!
Please contact me if you are interested in helping or have questions.
Sincerely,
Peter Greenberg