Elderly in Amsterdam get free laptops

Because connection is essential in today’s challenging times

The Municipality of Amsterdam makes 3,500 refurbished laptops connected to the Internet available to elderly and vulnerable people who cannot afford them. The first devices were handed out to their lucky new owners at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The action is part of a greater effort by the Dutch capital to ensure everyone is connected in the times during and after the lockdown.

Preventing digital and social exclusion of vulnerable Amsterdamers

From July employees of no less than 50 civil society organizations in Amsterdam will be handing out hundreds of devices to those in need as part of the “Everyone Connected project” (Iedereen verbonden). The refurbished laptops are intended for, among others, lonely elderly people and low-income status holders, who are facing social and digital exclusion, who risk losing their connection with the city and the world around them due to the measures taken against the coronavirus.

The laptops that are given away have been checked, cleaned and refurbished if necessary before reaching their new owners. In addition, members of civil society organisations will be providing support on how to use the equipment, keeping the necessary social distance and making efforts to gradually increase the digital skills of the receiving persons.

This action, on top of providing society members with the needed equipment, extends its life, in accordance with the famous sustainability principle reduce, reuse and recycle, which saves raw materials, energy and production costs. Thus, it saves a large number of laptops which once belonged to companies and institutions that no longer need them, as there are new models released.

The municipality of Amsterdam has already handed out around 3000 new laptops to children once the schools were closed due to the lockdown, in order to support their long-distance education and making sure that everyone has access to education and information.