AT&T and Human-I-T partnered Tuesday to help Aurora students who needed laptops while saving gently used computers from the trash pile.

Just in time for school starting in a few weeks.

“I will be using this laptop to take English courses,” Hayat Riad of Aurora said. She has been learning the language for two years through conversation, but will now be able to take formal courses. Her son also received a laptop to use for his schoolwork.

The event was part of AT&T’s Retail E-Waste Campaign, an initiative that recycles discarded electronics into new devices.

“For every 10 pounds of e-waste, we are able to donate one laptop,” AT&T director of Corporate Responsibility Roman Smith said.

Tuesday’s event supplied 100 laptops to those in need. Recipients were selected through a lottery-based system after registering online with Human-I-T.

“Human-I-T is a social enterprise that creates equitable access to opportunity by providing devices, internet access, digital skills training and tech support for communities left on the wrong side of the digital divide,” according to its website.

The digital divide can be defined as the gap between people who have access to the internet and technology and those who do not.

The organization used a database of eligible recipients to reach out to locals with lottery entry information. The Aurora Housing Authority also connected individuals with the opportunity.

“This is a way to localize the effect of e-waste in the community to conquer the digital divide,” Smith said.

AT&T hopes to show people that responsibly disposing of e-waste results in a tangible good.

E-waste can easily be disposed of in the e-waste donation box inside select AT&T stores.

The laptops donated Tuesday come with two-year service, internet and a lifetime AT&T license, Smith told The Denver Gazette.

The donation is part of AT&T’s larger plan to tackle the digital divide.

“In 2026, AT&T plans to distribute 30,000 laptops nationwide,” the organization said in a news release.

Learn more about AT&T’s efforts to address the digital divide here.