Elaine Dibner

A non-profit program can be a family affair. When Kramden Institute was started by my husband, Mark and my son Ned (“Kramden” came from Kramden Innovations, a small company they started when Ned was 11—Kramden is Mark / Ned spelled backwards), it was hard to imagine that the program started in our kitchen would grow to become an area-wide organization, with the possibility of expanding nationally.

Kramden Institute has a mission to collect and refurbish computers and distribute them to deserving, less-advantaged school students.

The idea started in May 2003, when my husband and son decided to teach themselves how to build a computer. Our son Ned likes to build things, and my husband, Mark, a biologist who is not afraid to try anything technical, thought it would be fun to have a father/son project. They had no experience and knew nothing about the innards of computers, but they had curiosity. They also loved buying and selling items on EBay and probably had as much fun obtaining the parts as figuring out how to build that first computer.

As they completed their computer, Ned, who was in 7th grade at Durham’s Brogden Middle School at the time, remarked that many of his classmates at Brogden couldn’t afford a computer of their own. He asked if they could build more computers that summer and give them to some of his classmates. Wow! We love our son. We work hard to instill values of responsibility and community involvement, but when he actually suggested this without any prompting, we got excited. As Mark said, “When your child, a teenager even, says something like that, you listen!”

Mark started asking friends and neighbors to donate their old computers. He phrased it in a way that people were able to relate to. “I bet you have an old computer that is sitting in your closet, garage, or attic taking up space. If you’d like to donate it for use by a middle school student, we’d like to take it off your hands.” What followed was an amazing outpouring of generosity. So much so that computers quickly took over our basement and dining room. Many days we would come home to find one, or many, computers or monitors sitting on our porch.

Nightly, the PCs were moved into the kitchen for hours of diagnostic work and refurbishing. Mark also found ways to obtain free software, subsidized Internet access, and someone to translate instruction manuals into Spanish. He and Ned were magnets for receiving troubleshooting advice. People loved helping. One example of this generosity was the amount of help we received from people who were in the computer repair business, people who might be considered our competitors. They generously donated replacement and repair parts as well as endless advice.

Demand quickly grew as more and more people found out what we were doing. Students approached Ned; his teachers and counselors also received requests. At first it was difficult to define who should receive the computers—the need is great. Finally, the school settled on students who could not afford a home computer and had made Brogden’s A/B Honor Roll as a starting point for qualification. The results were terrific! We heard that students were trying harder in school to qualify for a computer. The teachers appreciated the emphasis on schoolwork and the guidance counselors thrived on demonstrating a positive reward for achieving goals. We were able to refurbish 35 computers over the 2003–2004 school year, and every Brogden A/B Honor Roll student who did not have a computer finished the school year with one.

Where am I during all this time? I am not the techie/“let’s figure it out” wizard that Ned and Mark are. I’m the cleaner, packager, and delivery person. I am the chief cook and bottle washer for the troops. I’m the oil that lubricates the engine. I am the silent partner in the Kramden vision and I am very happy in that role. And I know I am very much appreciated.

What is most amazing about this story is how it just evolved. None of us could have been considered a computer techie or “Geek.” None of us had devoted such a large amount of time to volunteer or charitable work. But it started, grew, and it “feels right.”

Editor’s Note: In next month’s article, Elaine will describe how the Kramden Institute has grown from a home-based operation into a non-profit organization, with spectacular results!