Learning by teaching

Be a teacher for free
TRADING KNOWLEDGE WITH OTHERS IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE
Teaching an individual or a group can be fun.

It’s surprising how much you can learn by teaching something.

Here at the Sarasota Technical Users Group we offer a teaching opportunity. The classes we offer are popular and we’d like to offer more. Yes, YOU can teach… and learn by doing!

You don’t have to be an expert of anything, just share a willingness to explore with others. There are so many apps out there and so much technology others want to learn that many people are missing great learning experiences – even you!

This is the main purpose of STUG – to provide knowledge and learning opportunities using our member volunteers.

Pick a tech topic or app you are enjoying, even if there are many aspects of it you’re still exploring – and have a go at “hosting” a class. We are all volunteers and we need each other to trade our tech experiences. Will you share your experiences with others? That’s all we are asking.

Our volunteer instructors are free to teach almost anything tech-related. Our classes are on Zoom so you don’t even have to leave your home to host a class. You decide the schedule. Those attending your session will help you by asking questions – and there is nothing wrong in saying “I don’t know”. Regardless of the knowledge level, EVERYONE benefits!

Please send me an email at jimcerny123@gmail.com and let’s talk about it. We are very flexible and I would be happy to answer any questions you have and consider your ideas. Pick a topic – how about driverless cars, 3D printing, car-phone connections, using Amazon, buying airline tickets on-line, cable and free TV connections, and so much more.

What tech topics are you most interested in these days? Why not help us help others?

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Is your favorite charity here?

There are many ways to help your favorite charity. And now, you can do that FOR FREE. And, as a bonus, keep your underused electronics out of the waste stream.

That’s right. Avoid the landfill, help a fellow citizen, and just, well, feel good.

Trained volunteers of STUG have been recycling computers, tablets, phones and related electronics since 2004. After deleting sensitive/personal data, we install updated operating systems and programs on these devices and pass them on, free of charge, to over 40 local non-profit organizations, students, unemployed residents and seniors.

To date, more than 17,000 devices have been donated to the community, more than 600 just since the beginning of this year. All devices that cannot go to a new home are recycled, not trashed. If you have an unwanted laptop or other device, phone us at 941-539-7401 or email refurb@thestug.org for more information. Our blog and our website have more info on how to donate or to apply to receive a computer.

Your favorite charity could benefit! We have helped these local groups thrive, thanks to your donations and the volunteer refurb crew from STUG.

21st Century After School Program + 4 Hope Communities AARP + ABA Academy + Atwater Elementary School + Beyond the Spectrum +Booker Elementary School + Career Source Suncoast clients + Children First + Children’s Guardian Fund + Community Foundation + Dreamers After School + Education Foundation + Emma Booker + ESOL + Faulhaber Fab Lab + Florida Center for Children and Family Services of Venice + Foundation for Dreams + Girls Inc + Goodwill clients + Guardian Ad Litem + Harvest House + Heron Creek Elementary School + Historic Spanish Point + Indian Festival + Jefferson Center + Joseph Recovery Center + Komputer For Kids + Laurel Civic Center + Literary Council of Sarasota + Living With Dignity + Mothers Helping Mothers + Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church + Newtown Janie Poe Housing Project + Newtown Masonic Temple + Newtown Children’s Preschool + Nur Academy + Our Mother’s House + Phillippi Shores First Grade students +Project 180 + Purpose House + Red Cross + Red Cross Ham Radio + Resurrection House + Salvation Army clients + Sarasota Housing Authority + Sarasota Native American + Sarasota Music Archive + Sarasota School Students + Sarasota Suncoast Academy + Sarasota Virtual School students + SPARCC + STC students + Students Leadership Academy in Venice + Suncoast Polytech students + Suncoast School of Innovative Studies + Suncoast Tech College students + Take Stock in Children – Manatee +Take Stock in Children – Sarasota + True Worship Outreach Ministry + Tuttle Elementary 2nd Grade students + Voice + Wee Care Christian Academy + Wilkinson Elementary School + Woodland Middle School

The Refurb Center

Things were hopping at the STUG Refurb Center.

Some honored visitors dropped by the Refurb Center other day. From left to right, we have SPCUG man (that’s what the guys call the Tshirt with our old avatar), Phil Sorrentino – past President and Monitor contributor, Marshall DuBois – Web Master, and Saul Lowitt – one of the founders of Manasota IBM-PC Users Group and long time instructor.

Hard at work that day, Mike Hutchinson (below, left) and Bill Crowe (below, right) (that’s Adam in the background, working away at his station) gave a tour of the workspace. Everything from cables to caddies is neatly sorted and stored for just-in-time reuse in configuring laptops and desktops, whenever someone/ some organization in the community mentions a need for a device.

Did you know that the Refurb Project is such an acclaimed and established volunteer project, that Windows and Microsoft Office 2019 are donated by those corporations for use in the refurbished computers? See all the local charities that we have been able to help.

UPDATE: We got so excited about our guests, that we forgot the real reason for this post, which was to share with you just a single month’s impact on our community: In April the Refurbishing Project refurbished 94 computers. In addition, 5 computers were repaired. Equipment was donated this month to: Children’s Guardian Fund, Children First, Career Source Suncoast, and Literacy Council of Sarasota

Cheers to an ongoing community resource run by volunteers and fueled by your donations. Want to know more?

Giving Back

As a continuing part of STUG’s contribution to the community, the Refurb Group volunteers accept donated computer equipment for the purpose of refurbishing and updating the equipment. These items are donated to other non-profits and individuals in the community who otherwise would be denied the technology due to economic limitations.