A key tenet of Cardinal Gibbons High School’s mission is service. Aligned with that tenet is Gibbons Gives, an initiative through which Gibbons donates used computer equipment to schools or community-service organizations with limited resources and whose work will be greatly impacted by the donation. The donations include retired computers – mainly laptops – that have been used by educators and/or students at Gibbons.

The Gibbons Gives initiative started in 2016. That’s when Dr. Rodolfo Argueta, then an IT assistant at the school, who grew up in Guatemala and worked in the educational system there saw the potential educational value that the retired computer equipment at Gibbons could bring to schools in Guatemala. He started to envision an initiative that would entail refurbishing retired computers and donating them to schools in need.

Dr. Argueta’s vision became reality when Ms. Gabi Burn, a science educator at the school, approached him in the spring of 2016 and expressed that a school in Honduras had a need for computer equipment. Dr. Argueta and Ms. Burn started to work on a donation of desktop computers and with the help of STARs (Student Technology Assistance Resource) team and other volunteer students, they configured 20 desktop computers and shipped them to a school in Roatan, Honduras, with support from the student Penny Challenge, a schoolwide student-led fundraising campaign.

After a first donation to Roatan, Honduras, Gibbons Gives donated laptops to a middle school in Guatemala and to schools and community organizations in North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Honduras, and Peru. The Wake County Guardians of Light, which distributes donated laptops among children in foster homes, has been the major beneficiary of Gibbons Gives in North Carolina. Other groups that have benefited are the Rescue Mission of Durham and the Kramden Institute in Durham.

Availability of laptops for donation depends on the number of educator laptops that are replaced each year and the number of graduating seniors who willingly donate their school-issued laptop instead of taking it with them upon graduation.

To request a laptop, please fill out our Laptop Donation Request Form