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MacDonald Training Center turns your old electronics into jobs, skills

MacDonald Training Center employs disabled adults
Posted at 5:11 PM, Jan 31, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-31 17:11:58-05

Some of us throw out old technology when it doesn't work right.

"Take out the motherboard and then I'm going to take this piece right here,” said Peter Haladay. "We take it piece by piece.”

Old computers, cell phones and radios are giving Peter Haladay a job and a training him for a future career.

"It's helped me like learn more basic skills and stuff like that; how to be more sociable with people," he said.

MacDonald Training Center gives skills and training to disabled adults.

Inside the workspace, the equality recycling program turns junk into recyclable material-- 60-thousand pounds last year alone.

"With the refurbishment side of things they're learning how to identify what components are wrong and how to fix those, how to replace them, how to install software,” said Krista Wright, MacDonald Training Center Project Manager.

Some of the electronics can be fixed. All of them provide income for MacDonald Training Center to pay their employees and certify them for the jobs they do.

"We want people to get the skills that will allow them to get employment and sustain that employment in the community,” said MacDonald Training Center President  Karenne Levy.

If you have computers, cell phones or other electronics you don't use, they will even pick it up and it's a tax write-off for you.

But they also make sure something old creates new opportunities.