GALVESTON, Texas — Pencils, notebooks and laptops: for many families, back to school means back to online learning and technology that not all kids have easy access to.
But husband-wife duo Ray and Carrie Hunnicutt are uploading a little love to students all over Galveston, trying to make life easier.
Ray is a computer whiz and the chief engineer at Leidos.
“We do all of the enterprise IT for NASA,” Ray Hunnicutt said.
Carrie Hunnicutt is a 7th and 8th grade history teacher with Galveston ISD.
“I love it,” Carrie Hunnicutt said. “I love being with these kids.”
A couple weeks ago, Carrie Hunnicutt was getting rid of two old laptops when she asked Ray a simple question.
“I said, ‘Is there any way you can salvage these? I know some of my kids needed them,'" she said.
Ray Hunnicutt experimented, by wiping the hard drive clean, then installing the Leidos operating system. The old laptop started running beautifully and was ready to be given away.
“I contacted the students that I knew did not do well last semester because they didn’t have a computer," Ray Hunnicutt said.
That one gifted laptop gave Carrie Hunnicutt an idea.
“I looked at my husband and I said, ‘Do you think anybody else has laptops that are just lying around?’ He said, ‘You are on Facebook all the time. Ask,'" Carrie Hunnicutt said.
In two weeks, 27 laptops have been donated. 21 have already been refurbished and given away to students.
“Ray’s been with me for some of the deliveries, and I mean, he cried, I cried. Families are so very grateful," Carrie Hunnicutt said.
People are grateful this couple is turning other people’s tech trash into learning treasure.
“We’ve gone to houses that, you know, they are struggling. The last thing they need to worry about is a minimum of $250 purchase," Carrie Hunnicutt said.
For anyone willing to donate a used or new laptop, email laptopdonations@yahoo.com.