Discovery of the week
Yes, there are people who do good things just because it’s the right thing to do. And in John Mathis’ case, it’s also a way to stay busy and connected his community. After retiring from the cement industry a while back, he felt the need to stay occupied, but the usual pursuits like golf, hunting, and fishing didn’t really appeal to him.
He tried his hand at building a computer for his grandson, enjoyed it, then starting helping out relatives, neighbors, and especially kids. Word got around that John Mathis could fix a computer or by golly build one from spare parts. He helped out local churches, hospital case workers out in the field, and kids from families hit by hard times. He even worked on environmental maven Auntie Litter’s computer. All for free.
Twelve years later, he’s still doing it for the enjoyment of helping other people. There’s never a charge for his time or materials. He harvests old computers and parts from garage sales, donations from individuals and local businesses that are upgrading . Mathis still loves to fix up computers for kids, and is very specific about his needs for them- only laptops running Windows XP operating systems, because he wants the kids to have the same thing they’re using in school. His specialty is secure hard drive data removal.
If you have old computers or parts to recycle, send me an e-mail and I’ll put you in touch with John Mathis. He’ll be happy to come to you in the Birmingham metro area to pick up used computers and parts that fit his criteria. The key word being happy- really.
