Cypress Donates 21 MacBook Pros to Refcode
Aug. 31, 2022
This week Cypress donated 21 high-end MacBook Pro laptops to Refcode. The laptops will be loaned to students taking the Intro to Professional Software Engineering course and those who graduate will get to keep the laptop for free!
Refcode founder and director Brenton Strine made a video to commemorate the donation. "This silly '21 gun salute' video may seem overly dramatic, but it's really not, when you consider the impact it has for the Refcode program, and on the 21 refugees and immigrants who will take them home" he said.
By donating these laptops, Cypress is helping provide the opportunity for America's newest patriots to live the American dream and create a better future for themselves and their families. Many refugees and immigrants have the talent, time, and aptitude to learn compputer programming, but are limited by their financial situations and access to a computer. Providing a high-end MacBook Pro to each student, we're giving them the best possible chance to succeed as they persue a challenging path of learning, coding, programming, and gaining the experience needed in an incredibly competitive job market.
"Wow, these are really, really nice" said Malek Alarmash, the Refcode Program Manager when he saw them. "I'm actually kinda jealous, can I take one for myself?" said Luke Keller, the Executive Director of Tekton.
Grant and Reggie, from Cypress, dropping off laptops to Refcode and helping Malek (center) process them.
Cypress employees Grant and Reggie dropped off the laptops and helped the Refcode Program Manager Malek get them processed. The laptops had a range of specifications, but were mostly high end, e.g. a 2019 MacBook Pro with Touchbar, an 8 core i9 processor and 32GB of RAM.
The laptops had been used by Cypress employees and had been handed off to the facilities department to decomission and dispose of. Cypress does not re-issue laptops to employees after they've been used, so facilities must find a way to responsibly sell or dispose of them. Not only did donating them save time and expense of that effort, but they went to a really good cause.
If your company issues laptops and you think they may be willing to donate decomissioned units to Refcode, please get in touch with us!