Diggers Rest’s laptop brothers need help to help others

It was an over-the-dinner-table conversation that sparked a philanthropic idea … the O’Connor brothers decided to refurbish damaged laptops and donate them to schools in the western suburbs.

But there’s one problem, and Aaron and Andrew O’Connor need your help.

“There are families with three-plus kids and they’re having to purchase devices and it gets expensive,” Aaron said.

“If they want to buy the laptops from the shops, anything that’s half decent is $500. Then multiply that by three.”

The computer technician is calling on local businesses and residents to donate their old and damaged laptops.

“If a laptop has a broken screen, I might be able to get a screen from somewhere else … I can get a couple of machines to make up one or two,” Aaron said.

He said laptops still in good physical condition would be ideal for this project.

The 25-year-old, who has been playing around with computers since he was 14, hopes this initiative will help ease the burden on families that are struggling financially.

“When I was younger, I was involved in community work and never liked seeing people disadvantaged,” he said. “Kids these days are the most disadvantaged and miss out on a lot.”

The Diggers Rest brothers are hoping to help out students in their “own backyard” first.

They will get in touch with school welfare departments, which will allocate the refurbished devices to their students.

To help

For more information or to donate, call 9740 1060.