Lending a Lifeline: How Laptop Lending Helped Communities Through COVID

In the spring of 2020, classrooms emptied almost overnight. Schoolwork moved to the kitchen table — and for thousands of families, there was no computer waiting there.

That year, the ERA network launched the "Lending a Lifeline by Lending Laptops" program, getting refurbished laptops into the hands of families and students suddenly learning from home.

When the news took notice

The effort drew national media attention in Canada, where our parent organization, the Electronic Recycling Association, was working flat out. CTV, CBC and Global News all covered the program. One CBC headline captured the moment: "Demand surges for donated laptops as Alberta school kids adapt to learning at home."

Demand surged because the stakes had changed. A laptop was no longer a convenience — it was the classroom itself.

The lesson of 2020

COVID did not create the digital divide; it exposed it. When a computer is the only way to attend class, see a doctor or apply for support, refurbished technology stops being a nice-to-have. It is critical infrastructure.

That lesson now shapes everything the ERA network does — including the work of ERA USA, the Electronic Reusing Association. Every device a business retires can become a lifeline for a student, a family or a nonprofit. The pandemic proved it at scale, and the need did not end when the lockdowns did: more than 1,000 charities, schools and nonprofits remain on the network's donation waitlist today.

Help us keep lifelines open. Book a pickup for your company's retired equipment, or apply for refurbished devices for your organization.