Electronics Round-up in Ridgefield this Saturday

Empower Up and Clark County Public Works are collecting computers, electronics and block foam at Ridgefield High School on Saturday, April 2 from 9am to 1pm.

First Projector Test

Our projector donation to the Friends of the Kiggin's passed the first test - the projector is powerful enough to work in the New Kiggin's Theater - an 8o foot throw to a 60 foot wide screen! Next we'll be testing the HD (1600x900) resolution to see if the quality is up movie theater standards and there needs to be some problem solving around where we mount it. All in all a good test - picture looked pretty good even at 1024x768 and was bright enough to see even with the house lights on...you gotta love a 4,500 lumen projector.

Non-profit grants in the media

Empower Up has granted 13 computers to local non-profit organizations for the month of January. We got brief write-ups in the Vancouver Business Journal and the Daily Insider web site.

2010 Numbers

In 2010:

Empower Up processed 16,815 donated items dropped from 2,846 WA residents. An additional 4,958 items were collected during the 30 events or off-site pick-ups during the course of the year. The number of donors increased 163% over 2009, and the amount of equipment donated increased by 212%.

Empower Up had the help of 577 volunteers that put in 10,468 hours of service to help us accomplish our mission this past year. Volunteer sign-ups increased 663% over 2009 and total volunteer hours increased by 364%.

Our volunteers helped us to get 6,612 items back into reuse, including 83 free computer systems donated to families in need or to local non-profit organizations. Reuse showed an increase of 238% over 2009.

Empower Up diverted 343,034 lbs of electronic waste from the land fill. Our recycling operation salvaged 228,833 lbs, recovering the gold, ferrous & non-ferrous metals, plastic and glass, an increase of 427% over 2009.

Hurray for us!

Empower Up offers free resources.

Article in the Daily Insider about our free education offerings.

Electronics & Block Foam Collection Event

This Saturday, January 8 - 9a to 1p at Clark College. Story by the Columbian

Happy New Year!

As we close out 2010, we want to thank everyone who has supported us this year with your time, your computer donations and your financial support. 2010 was a great year for Empower Up and 2011 is going to be even bigger and better! Happy New Years everyone!