Northamptonshire business donates popular laptop accessories and fulfills a ‘charity need’
When Tamora Burford from The Unicorn Trust, a specialist school in Abingdon, saw laptop bags listed on the A Good Thing platform, she jumped at the chance to request them for her pupils as the school rolled out its ambitious device plan to enhance learning.
Enhancing learning
When we spoke to Tamora, she was simply delighted that Subsidium Managed Solutions, which had listed the specialist laptop backpacks on A Good Thing, had selected her request. She explained:
“We are a specialist school supporting children with additional learning difficulties. We use assistive technology throughout our school to support our students’ learning. Each student has their own laptop or device to use in class.
However, we have seen that some have been damaged recently as they are not being transported around the school in suitable bags. Times are tough, and the cost-of-living crisis means that parents cannot always afford to purchase an expensive laptop bag like the ones that have been donated. We are delighted we will be able to share the laptop bags with the students most in need, and help them care for their devices.”
Going spare
Sophie Pobjoy, Customer Relationship Executive at Subsidium Managed Solutions, was delighted when a colleague shared news of A Good Thing with her in a team meeting. As the company supplies businesses with mobile devices, laptops and all the relevant accessories, there can sometimes be a surplus. Sophie told us:
“We send out the complete kit, but sometimes the personnel department has a preferred bag or mouse, so the item is not needed and is returned to us. I had been calling charities individually to see if they would like the laptop bags, but this was really time-consuming and very speculative. We would identify a charity we thought would benefit, but when we spoke with them, they didn’t need the bags.”
“Not sending anything to landfill is key, so we thought we would give A Good Thing a go. I was quite tentative, having called charities without success in the past, but I was proved wrong! We were inundated with requests for the bags. It was simply fantastic.”
Having a rummage
Following the success of the laptop bags, Sophie went on to list more offers alongside a further lot of surplus laptop bags. She also listed computer mice and headsets. The headsets – which also proved popular – were donated to the Children Today Charitable Trust to enable young people to access their 30th-anniversary event titled ‘Accessible Authors’.
The online event saw invited authors who have lived experience of disability and authors whose work features characters with a disability read extracts from their books to a live audience. The event ended with a lively question-and-answer session with young viewers. The headsets were given to children with a disability to enable them to fully take part in the event.
Subsidium’s Sophie was delighted with the outcome:
“It’s amazing to connect with these wonderful charities. It’s not just about stopping things from going in the bin; it’s about connecting with wonderful people who are doing great things and donating something they need.”
“We often have surplus items being returned to us, and it’s been such a great experience. I will certainly be listing more items in the future.”
Answering a charity need
Susbsidium has also responded to a recent ‘charity need’; Rae Chambers, Deputy Manager at the charity Marches Family Network, used A Good Thing’s ‘’charity need’ form to let us know that her charity was searching for a mobile device. The phone would be used to allow volunteers to accept payments and donations by card via their new cashless payment system. With a busy season of craft fairs and markets fast approaching, it was quite critical.
When the team at A Good Thing shared the charity need with Simon Evans, Operations Director at Subsidium, he knew they had just the thing: a secondhand device that was no longer needed by the team had been sitting in a cupboard for a little while. Simon updated the software, packaged it up and the mobile device was delivered the next day.
Rae was overwhelmed:
“Wow, this phone is just amazing; I’m SO grateful, it’s just what we need! Our volunteers will be able to collect contactless donations, and the public will be able to pay for items on our stalls without cash. Nobody has cash these days, so now we won’t miss out on sales. Thank you so much to A Good Thing for connecting us with Subsidium. Simon and the team at Subsidium, we’re so grateful for your donation and thank you for taking the extra step to post the phone out to us.”
A huge thank you to Subsidium Managed Solutions for being great supporters of A Good Thing; we can’t wait to see your next offers come in!
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