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FREDERICK, Md. — At first glance, something about Eric Zimmerman’s house doesn’t quite compute.
Computer towers stack up in the garage, desktops crowd the kitchen, and more machines line the basement shelves. It looks less like a home and more like a repair shop.
Zimmerman has always loved computers. But he also noticed something else: Every day, people throw them away.
“Computers are being discarded, and people need computers,” he said.
Zimmerman has autism — something he believes helped shape the way his mind works. Instead of seeing limits, he saw an opportunity.
“Why not take my knowledge and my interest and put it together,” he said.
Fifteen years ago, that idea became the Buddy Project.
People donate their old computers. Zimmerman and other volunteers repair them. Then he gives them away — free — to seniors and people with special needs who may not otherwise be able to afford one.
“Probably have 500 laptops here,” Zimmerman said, gesturing to stacks of machines waiting for their next life.
It’s a deal that beats any electronics retailer.
“We definitely give better deals than Best Buy, that’s for sure,” he joked.
Instead of a Geek Squad, Zimmerman built a squad of his own. Dozens of volunteers now help repair, refurbish, and prepare computers for new owners.
“I’m kind of impressed by what he’s done,” Eric Bloom, who has worked with Zimmerman for five years, said. “Taken what a lot of people would consider to be a disability and proved that you can be successful anyway.”
For many recipients, the computers mean far more than technology.
Reginald David Walker needed one to start a business.
“I didn’t believe what I was seeing when I saw it,” Walker recalled after seeing a listing for the Buddy Project on Craigslist. “They were talking about giving away a computer.”
Zimmerman says more than 4,000 people have now received computers through the project.
“The computer just brought everything together,” Walker said.
For Zimmerman, that’s the point.
“It’s a cycle,” he said. “It keeps going.”
And that’s why the stacks of computers will keep growing — from the basement to the kitchen to the garage.
Just not the front yard.
“We have a pretty strict homeowners association,” Zimmerman said with a laugh.