As some of you may know, 4 times per year we pay everyone to come to work for our Portland community as a way for us to give back a little bit. Yeah, that's right, you get paid like a normal work day but you get to do something totally different, plus a free lunch.
This time we invited some special guests to come join us from the Portland Youtube scene and were happy to bring along Qain from Tek Syndicate, Tony from 1UP Island, and Jeff from eXtv to help us volunteer at Free Geek.
Qain (top), Eli the Antlion Boss (Bottom left), Tony (Bottom Middle), Jeff (Bottom Right)
Those three plus the Antlion staff came to Free Geek to help recycle old computer and electronics components. We learned that the first step and the one they need the most help with is breaking things down and sorting them into their proper bins, so they can be recycled efficiently. Breaking stuff? Sign us up.
Each part of a computer has its own bin, from copper and steel components to motherboards, cables, and plastics.
We relentlessly went to work, cracking open PC cases like they were tiny treasure chests filled with history, and ironically in most cases, small amounts of gold. We even had a contest to see who could disassemble a PC faster, which Tony won by a two-screw margin.
It's a race!
At mid day we took a lunch, ate some incredible arepas at Teote, and took a moment to cool off and have a fun chat. You'll notice the lack of food, this is because once food arrived the last thing on my mind was taking pictures. It was SO GOOD.
Lunch time!
Back in the grind we once again went to work sorting, disassembling, and at times, breaking things. With renewed energy we got a little more lively and energetic.
Join us at our next event and you could work with these two weirdos.
By the end of the day we were hot, tired, but also nothing but smiles and the warm fuzzies that come from knowing you're helping clean up the world one PC at a time.
We'd like to thank Free Geek for all the work they do, and especially thank Jeff, Tony, and Qain for coming out to help as well as the other volunteers who were there yesterday.
Want to join us or have a Portland location you think we should volunteer at next? Get in touch by commenting below or give us a tweet.