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Craig Clark is a master at reinventing himself! Having steered a whole chain of convenience stores, he then morphed into a computer technician in retirement. This community-minded Florida senior with a heart of gold and a strong sense of social connection, then rebranded himself once again as the “Tech Fairy”, a one-man-operation restoring and gifting laptops to local folks in need in Sarasota, as WMRA Public Radio reports.
For almost a decade, as Feeds details, this 79-year-old quiet changemaker has been transforming discarded laptops into tools of opportunity for people in his community.
How the Tech Fairy Soared!
Clark, a senior with a passion for technology with a profound understanding of its value, started restoring laptops for others in need around eight years ago, he tells NPR.
He explains to Feeds that initially, while still doing computer repair jobs, he noticed that many clients would ask him to haul away their old laptops once he had set up their shiny new computers. What began as a small recycling endeavor, morphed into a passion for giving precious digital access to those struggling to stay connected.
It was on the neighborhood app, Nextdoor, that Clark’s project really started to soar. After he posted some photographs of smiling recipients holding their good-as-new laptops, along with explanatory captions, neighbors started to grasp that their own unused technology, just sitting in their closets, could empower others to change their lives.
Very soon, donations began to arrive from strangers. It is the devotion and generosity of these ordinary people that Clark wants to salute.
Clark can’t recall why he branded himself as the Tech Fairy, but he explains how this motivation built up: “People would give me their old computers when they bought a new one and I would fix them up and find someone to give them to." He confesses that he never had a plan. ”It was just something that happened and kind of blew out from underneath me. But I'm so pleased it did.”
Today, his office has racks crammed with computers, some open to reveal their green motherboards, the main circuit board in computers that connects all the internal components of a computer, such as the CPU, RAM, and graphics card. Still today, all of these used digital devices are donations that Clark replies on.
Clark replaces broken parts, and adds a new hard drive and battery to each computer, at no cost to recipients, turning them into reliable companions for work or study.
He estimates that he gives away around eight to nine reconditioned laptops every month. According to Inside Business Success, these have an estimated total value surpassing $20,000. This modest man says of his role that he is simply connecting one person’s surplus with another person’s need.
Perfecting his Gifting Technique
Clark is quite the “salesman’” This creative retiree sets out to look beyond familiar faces when looking for potential recipients of his refurbished computers.
He shares his heartwarming “cold calling” approach with WMRA Public Radio. When shopping at places like thrift stores, he will walk up to customers checking out a used laptop but who stops short of buying it. His “script,” he says, goes something like this: “So, I will say something like: 'I noticed you were looking at a computer, but you didn't pick it up’” He then proceeds to tell them about his refurbished laptop calling, and “shows them the people I've given computers to and then they're convinced I'm for real.”
Clark has garnered an amazing bank of images of the many locals he has helped so far. These are typically people from a range of low-income professions: “In the 700 pictures, there's a lot of convenience store workers, there's a lot of fast food workers, people that I know are working for a minimum wage and probably cannot afford a $1,200 laptop.”
One beneficiary, who serves customers at his favorite restaurant, was happy to accept one of Clark’s reconditioned laptops. Recently, he approached Craig to share a beautiful anecdote: “He came up and said, 'Craig, I just want you to know, last week I got two $6,000 grants from my college that I never would have even known about if I didn't have that laptop.”
And this kindhearted guy intends to keep granting wishes to local people in need of a computer. “I love fixing computers and watching people smile.”
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