An old proverb says if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; but if you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.
As part of our efforts to invest in the community where we operate, BGE partners with an organization that has a similar philosophy as that old proverb.
Compudopt is an organization that helps bridge the digital divide by providing computers, internet solutions (e.g., connectivity) and technology education to underserved youth and their communities.
BGE recently donated 56 computers to Compudopt in Houston. Although our recent donation of computers has a used market value of $30,000, for the youth receiving the computers, it can be an invaluable start to learning and to expanding their education. With these computers, the youth can do a variety of things such as read, complete school-related tasks, do research and submit homework. Coupled with Compudopt’s technology education programs, they also can learn about and solve real-world problems.
Solving real-world problems is fundamental to the work we do at BGE. So is giving back to the community.
With this donation, we have found a way to serve our community in a resourceful way.
The computers we donate are those that are being rotated out of service at BGE.
This donation is actually the second one we have made to Compudopt, the first being in 2020. Beyond the alignment in our missions, we choose to partner with this organization because they completely wipe the computers clean of all data and licenses before making them available for others to use. All we have to do is identify computers being rotated out of commission here at BGE, tag them for donation, and then stack and load them for pickup. Compudopt does the rest.
The vibrancy of BGE’s culture is on display when we volunteer or meet a community’s needs through resourceful solutions like this.
Consuella Whipple, Compudopt executive director, said, “We are so grateful to BGE for the donations and the donated time. With your help, we are able to continue our mission of providing technology access and education to under-resourced youth and their communities.”
John Howard
John is an Information Technology manager with more than 14 years of service with BGE. He and his team lead the efforts to purchase the majority of the firm’s hardware (e.g., computers, servers, etc.) and software (programs). His team also leads and maintains BGE’s service desk, handling all the service calls, and troubleshooting issues to solve computer problems.