Paul’s volunteering journey
Paul who came through the volunteering Wandsworth platform after a successful google search of “Wandsworth Volunteering” is a resident of Battersea and is currently a volunteer at one of our provider charities on the platform, Power 2 Connect. Paul who has previous volunteering experience at the London 2012 Olympics is no stranger to the world of volunteering.

Having registered to the Volunteering Wandsworth platform and seeing all the roles available found that Power to Connects posted volunteering opportunity caught his attention. Paul says he “thought it was an interesting fit”. Paul focuses on the digital champion and digital drop ins aspect of the Power 2 Connects work.

Paul has a background in business, financial exclusion and digital exclusion which he is very keen on. He also has an interest in volunteering, some spare time and lives locally which has also been a driving force behind deciding to volunteer.

Paul has been volunteering with Power 2 Connect for at least a year starting in September 2024. Doing 2-hour sessions every 2 weeks and more days when he is available. The process of joining the Power 2 Connect team was a quick process with Paul shadowing and assisting with helping the service users early on. Joining Power 2 Connect was not about gaining skills for Paul but about offering his time.

Power 2 Connect’s sustainability work and Pauls thoughts on their work

Paul feels it is very interesting how the sustainability piece comes into the work that is done around donations and grants of hardware. Donations come in and things are tidied up and cleaned up both physically and from a software basis and passed on to people who might not have access to a tablet or laptop to help them with their homework or job applications. This is both a digital exclusion matter and also solving another problem around sustainability. It’s helping perfectly working equipment that may no longer be useful for the initial purpose it was bought whether by the council or individual and giving it a new life which helps to avoid and reduce the amount of e-waste caused.

It’s a passion of Pauls that we avoid things going into landfill believing that the best way is not to recycle but to instead reuse. Paul knows that the reused equipment may have only years left of use but believes that this is better than having to get new resources out of the ground and putting old resources into the ground unnecessarily. The digital exclusion and sustainability create a beautiful virtuous circle whereby Power 2 Connect is helping the community to use resources in a way that would never be possible if you were trying to buy things off the shelf and providing access as well as the skills to use the equipment and give it another life.

This hopefully helps young people to succeed in their schooling which only then goes on down the chain and down the generations to help people change the world in whatever career it is that they are doing. You have to look at the long term view of how these small aspects can have a snowball effect further down through life, which excites me. There might be someone there who without the laptop wouldn’t get those marks, wouldn’t get that degree and wouldn’t do something amazing whether that is healing people, creating amazing literature or whatever it is that they are going to do by having access to those tools and those skills.

Paul’s thoughts on his impact at Power 2 Connect through volunteering in the community

I feel good knowing that I can help chip away at confusion or a lack of knowledge, and hopefully someone leaves with a bit more understanding than when they arrived. A lot of what I do is about building confidence, giving people the chance to experiment and apply what they’ve learned. When that happens, they’re able not only to solve problems themselves but also to pass on what they’ve learned to others. It feels great to know I’m making a difference in someone’s life.

I also enjoy helping to fix and repurpose laptops and being part of the team working toward this bigger purpose. Power 2 Connect are very good at keeping volunteers informed about the wider impact of our work, which makes a big difference. I see regular service users coming back to the drop-ins, which shows both how valuable the service is and how much people want to keep learning.

It’s fantastic to see that growth. When people return, you notice their confidence has grown, their skills are building, and the conversations move beyond the basics. That’s when you know real progress is happening.

Paul enjoys volunteering for now whilst he has the time and hopes to continue with Power 2 Connect.

To volunteer or support Power 2 Connect click here.

How did you come across Power2Connect?
Volunteer: I was speaking to my teacher, and he suggested that I should check for volunteering opportunities on the Volunteering Wandsworth website as I live in Roehampton.

Why did you choose to volunteer with Power2Connect?
Volunteer: I chose to volunteer with Power2Connect because I was studying computer science for my masters and I wanted to get some hands-on experience. Coming here I was being taught how to do some hardware and software stuff.

Sometimes the laptops come without a RAM (Random access memory), and we will get it from another laptop and we will put it into the one that we want to give out. Sometimes we change the drives also. Once the process with the laptops is complete, we add a sticker, and the laptop is ready to be distributed. I’ve completed about 30 laptops in one day whilst volunteering at Power2Connect. Joshua was happy to be volunteering at Power 2 Connect and contributing to the cause of sustainability in the borough. Not only is he able to contribute he is able to gain further experience as a graduate in the area of IT and have a routine for his week when he is not working part time. Joshua has invited friends to also get involved with volunteering at Power 2 Connect.

Inspired by Joshua’s journey?
Join Power2Connect and help them to repair, refurbish, and redistribute laptops to those who need them most. Whether you’re an IT enthusiast, a student looking for hands-on experience, or simply want to make a difference, your time and skills can change lives.

Get involved today
Volunteer, donate equipment, or spread the word. Together, we can bridge the digital divide and build a more sustainable future.
Visit Power to Connect’s website here.

Can you briefly introduce your organisation and the work you do? What are your main values, and how does sustainability fit into your mission?

Power2Connect are primarily a digital inclusion charity based in Wandsworth, with a mission to bridge the digital divide ensuring everyone has equal access to technology, digital skills, digital confidence and connectivity so that they are able to thrive in an ever-growing digital world.

Sustainability fits into our mission mainly through access to devices. We collect used laptops, tablets and smart phones from local residences and businesses and bring them to ROSE community centre where our team of IT volunteers who will wipe and refurbish the devices which will get redistributed back out into the Wandsworth community. We work with Schools, food banks, citizens advice and lots of community groups who will identify people who need a laptop and are not able to access them themselves.

How do you involve staff, volunteers, or service users in your sustainability efforts?

We have different volunteers at Power2Connect, we have IT volunteers who are key with helping us to wipe and repurpose devices so that they can be redistributed back into the Wandsworth community.

We also have transport volunteers who will go across the borough collecting unused devices from our drop off points and they will also deliver the devices to schools and community groups who pass them on to people to keep and use. All of our volunteers are very big on Power2Connect and spreading the word, if anyone mentions that they have a smart phone at home laying around they suggest that they consider donating the device to Power2Connect.

Service users at our digital drop ins share the work that Power2Connect are doing and they also share about our device recycling and repurposing program which allows people who hear about the drop-in sessions so they can drop in their unused devices here.

How does your sustainability work support the local Wandsworth community?
People want to help their local community and Power2Connect offers a place to do that in terms of people being able to donate their devices to local people. To date we have collected 4,500 devices, we have refurbished and redistributed 4,200 in the local borough to local schools and organisations.

We work with over 150 referral partners (schools, community groups across the borough and Wandsworth food bank) across the borough to give out these devices completely free. More devices given to Power2Connect also mean less devices that will end up in local landfills.

Have you seen any tangible results or improvements from your sustainability efforts?

We’ve had donated over 4,500 and we have distributed over 4,200 we have carried out surveys to our partners and parents have reported increase in grades and have seen an increase in motivation towards home learning and an increase in health and wellbeing with their families. These devices help the whole family, and we hear lots of lovely stories from our partners and residents who have received devices.

What lessons have you learned that other organisations could benefit from?

When it comes to sustainability it’s about thinking of how to make it as easy as possible for someone. Power2Connect have made it easy for people to be able to safely and securely drop off your own device which will get given back out to the local community to have a second life that will help others.

How can people in Wandsworth support your sustainability efforts?

You can donate your devices using the website, there are multiple drop off points across Wandsworth, you can volunteer your time, and you can donate financially. There are many ways to support.

To donate, volunteer and to learn more please visit Power2Connect’s website here.