NOOKSACK — Until a few months ago, Loa Lankhaar had to take her son and daughter to a relative’s house or to the Lynden Library whenever they needed a computer for schoolwork.
No more. They now have a used-but-reliable computer at home and it only cost them the equivalent of a round of lattes.
Lankhaar received the computer, and instructions for its care, from Jess Reeves Sr., a Nooksack retiree who puts in double-duty patching old computers and giving them free or at little cost to families who otherwise couldn’t afford one.
“For him to do this is just fabulous,” Lankhaar said. “It’s really helped the kids.”
Reeves formed a nonprofit organization, Computers for Kids in Need, six years ago after he started putting his computer skills to work for families.
His odyssey began when he learned about a Blaine mother squeezing by on a low-wage job and raising three boys in a trailer. The boys’ school grades were slipping, until Reeves gave the family a computer.
“That got me started,” he said. “It’s been expanding and expanding since then.”
Indeed it has. Reeves is now up to 762 computers delivered to local families.
Reeves was introduced to computers in the 1970s, back when computers filled rooms instead of laps. He was working security for Fairchild Semiconductor in California and watched engineers design computer chips.
He moved to Whatcom County in 1978, went to work for a dairy equipment firm, and later took on its computing duties. He also served two stints on the Nooksack City Council.
Now 74, Reeves retired a dozen years ago and kept busy as a computer consultant until he found his niche bringing computers to families who otherwise couldn’t afford one.
He estimates he puts in 100 hours a week taking apart computers, buying parts, assembling computers, hauling away recyclable leftovers, contacting families, registering software, taking computers to families, installing the computers, and showing each family how to operate and maintain their computer.
Donations, grants and money from recycling printer cartridges all help to cover his expenses and to keep families’ out-of-pocket expenses low, often just $20 for a surge protector.
There usually are 10 to 20 families on the waiting list, but that figure can double as Christmas nears.
Lankhaar and her kids got their computer close to the holidays. Besides using it for homework, her son checks out anime movies and her daughter enjoys Club Penguin, a Web site for youngsters.
“I have to drag them away from it,” she said. “Then I have to get them to do their chores.”
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