{"id":172906,"date":"2025-08-24T23:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T23:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/172906\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T23:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T23:34:10","slug":"retired-tech-fairy-rebuilds-old-computers-and-gives-them-to-folks-who-cant-afford-one-700-gifted-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/172906\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired \u2018Tech Fairy\u2019 Rebuilds Old Computers and Gives Them to Folks Who Can\u2019t Afford One\u2013700 Gifted So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"

Craig Clark may call himself \u2018the oldest computer technician in America\u2019, but everyone else calls him the Tech Fairy because of all the wishes he has granted to strangers.<\/p>\n

In his field, as a technician, people sometimes give Craig their old computers after he sets up their new ones.<\/p>\n

Then about 8 years ago he began to take those used laptops, rebuild them, and find someone who needs a computer because they can\u2019t afford one. It suddenly became easier to find people in need once Craig discovered Nextdoor<\/a>\u2014an app and website where neighbors in localities talk to neighbors who live in the same area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI began posting pictures on the website of the smiling folks with their \u201cnew\u201d laptops,\u201d he told GNN.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen somehow I branded myself as the \u2018Tech Fairy\u2019. I have no memory as to why I did that, but it turned out to be a stroke of genius.\u201d<\/p>\n

People started hearing stories about deserving people who\u2019d received a free laptop from the Tech Fairy\u2014and readers began contacting Craig, who is now 79-years-old, to offer up that old laptop they had in a closet.<\/p>\n

After 8 years, he has re-homed over 700 devices around Sarasota, Florida.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s received some notoriety, from local news\u2014and nationally too. In 2022, ABC News flew Craig to New York to appear on Good Morning America, along with a family who\u2019d been gifted one of his laptops. All four children now call him \u2018Grandpa Craig\u2019, which still makes him cry. (Watch the video at the bottom\u2026)<\/p>\n

\"\"The smiling faces of those graced with free laptops by the Tech Fairy<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing the Tech Fairy is a fairly expensive project,\u201d he told GNN. \u201cFor security, I install a new SSD hard drive into every computer I rebuild\u2014and new batteries are often required\u2014but the smiles in the pictures I take are worth the investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the pictures are of smiling workers at fast food restaurants or convenience stores. One reason is that his primary career was as an executive for 7-Eleven convenience stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made good money on the efforts of thousands of terrific store employees making minimum wage. I was making 10 times the money as these folks and they were working much harder than I was.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he\u2019s been steadily giving back ever since\u2014like a Pied Piper of Good Deeds.<\/p>\n

KINDNESS RETURNED<\/strong>: Years After She Saved a Magpie Bird it Returns the Favor Saving Her Life After She Fell from Window<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday I drove to an organization that helps women recovering from addiction. They have 2 women graduating from their program this week, and as they start their new lives each now has a beautiful semi-new laptop to get them started.\u201d (One of them, Amber, is pictured below.)<\/p>\n

\"\"Amber is graduating from Prodigal Daughters in Sarasota with a \u201cnew\u201d laptop to help her get started in her new life \u2013 submitted by The Tech Fairy<\/p>\n

\u201cI get a lot of credit for this project but I never forget that this effort is possible only because of the selfless folks who donate their used devices to me. It\u2019s a true community project\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE KINDNESS FOR STRANGERS<\/strong>: Dry Cleaner Gives Away his Services to Unemployed Folks Headed to Job Interviews: \u2018Just Pay it Forward\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch the story from ABC\u2019s Good Morning America, from 3 years ago\u2026<\/p>\n

SPREAD THE OPPORTUNITY To Others in Florida By Sharing This on Social Media\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craig Clark may call himself \u2018the oldest computer technician in America\u2019, but everyone else calls him the Tech…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":172907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[27485,745,723,3723,42206,12578,65086,6358,158,67,132,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-172906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-computers","9":"tag-computing","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-free","12":"tag-kindness","13":"tag-recycling","14":"tag-reuse","15":"tag-seniors","16":"tag-technology","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115086364926946874","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}