7-Eleven has donated 189 repurposed laptops to Australian Management & Education Services (AMES) to help its refugee and migrant clients connect with critical services, education, and employment more easily.
Cath Scarth, CEO, AMES, said that it can be incredibly difficult for new Australians to access the support, education, and employment services they need to successfully live, learn and work without access to basic technology.
“This is particularly true for our refugee clients, including those from Afghanistan and Ukraine who had to flee their homes so quickly and, in many cases, arrived without resources and the technology needed to access essential services.
“Being able to provide these laptops through our People in Need Fund makes a huge difference to our clients. Trying to do online learning or access services such as healthcare is incredibly difficult using a mobile phone, so the laptops have been amazing.”
Moska Amini, who arrived from Afghanistan in early 2023, is a recipient of one of the recycled laptops and expressed what the donation means for her and her family.
“We couldn’t bring lots of things when we came, and it was so hard for us. Now with the laptop I can use it for my lessons and my sisters use it to apply for jobs,” she said.
Drew Coffey, Chief Information Officer, 7-Eleven, said the 7-Eleven tech team, and a number of suppliers worked together to reformat and repurpose the laptops to get them ready for use.
“We need to replace devices every few years, and usually, these are wiped and sent for e-recycling. By working together with Microsoft and Blue Connections, we have instead been able to completely reformat these devices, and add the basic software needed for them to have a new life with AMES refugee and migrant clients.
“It is important to us that we look at ways to reduce the amount of eWaste that might otherwise end up in landfill, and being able to instead repurpose these devices to provide digital connectivity for AMES clients was a great outcome.
“We are incredibly proud to have made a contribution towards digital inclusion for new Australians, and we’ll be looking to see what’s possible when we complete routine device replacements in future.”
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