Siemens Canada empowers underserved communities with donation of 200 laptops to create meaningful change

September 26, 2018

Hundreds of underserved young people in Canada will soon have access to technology and digital learning thanks to Siemens Canada and local charity Corporations For Community Connections (CFCC). Siemens is donating 200 decommissioned employee laptops to CCFC that will ultimately be distributed to underserved communities by WE, a family of organizations that makes doing good, doable.

More than 30 student volunteers along with Siemens employees will participate in a workshop today, led by CCFC at the WE Global Learning Centre, a state-of-the-art global educational hub in Toronto. Refurbishment of the computers includes secure removal of all data from hard drives, as well as physical cleaning, installation of licensed software and testing. To help empower young people from underserved communities in Canada and Ecuador, Siemens is teaming up with WE to donate the refurbished laptops through WE Schools, a service-learning program and WE Villages, a 20-year proven holistic and sustainable international development model. Young people who receive laptops will have access to educational tools and resources to help further their service-learning journey.

“Siemens and WE are partners in technology and also share a business to society approach that means being of value to our communities is the basis for a sustainable organization,” said Siemens Canada CEO Faisal Kazi. “We know these laptops will connect the students who receive them to the resources they need to fulfill their educational and personal goals. It’s an honour to help make this community impact possible while also reducing our environmental impact by diverting electronic waste from landfills.”

Over the last eight years, Siemens has partnered with CFCC to donate and refurbish more than 2,700 computers and supported 67 charitable organizations and schools, serving more than 38,000 people. More than 450 Siemens Canada employees have volunteered more than 4,000 hours participating in the workshops.

“Repurposing corporate computers is a largely untapped resource for social development”, said CFCC’s President and Co-founder Philip Schaus. “This program addresses the gap in our digital world. Half of the population remains disconnected. Long after their life in the business world is over these computers are changing people’s lives”.