Rent-to-own News - High Touch, RAC donate 40 computers to Kansas community organizations

Rent-to-own software leader High Touch, today announced it is joining efforts with long-time business partner Rent-A-Center to donate 20 IBM computers each to Breakthrough and Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland.

The donation is being organized by High Touch, Inc., a 25-year-old Wichita technology solutions company. “Breakthrough and Girl Scouts give so much to the community, and we wanted to play a part by giving to them,” says Clayton Deckinger, an employee who’s responsible for organizing the donation.

The donation started with Deckinger approaching RAC about computers they were no longer using, but High Touch was storing at its Distribution Center.

“Since RAC was longer using the computers and they are heavily involved with giving back to the community, donating the computers seemed to be a good fit,” Deckinger said

Breakthrough executive director, Barb Andres, said with 2010 budget cuts of $180,000, new equipment purchases were the first to be cut.

“We were not planning to enhance our computer systems at all this year, and then we received a wonderfull call from High Touch telling us they wanted to donate some very nice, used computers,” Andres said.  “This donation will help us stretch our resources so we can continue to provide quality services to Breakthrough members.”

Andres said that it is essential to have adequate stations for members, staff and volunteers. 

“The donated computers are really going to help our organization be efficient and help Breakthrough serve our members,” she said.  “This donation directly touches the lives of the people we serve.”

With 150 plus people using Breakthrough’s computers throughout the day, the 16 workstations with limited memory just weren’t cutting it.  While Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland doesn’t have as many users, they are also burdened with out-dated computers.

“As with any organization, it is important to maintain the infrastructure and stay current with technology.  Our computers are aging, so the computers from High Touch will allow funds that would have been directed to technology to be used for program delivery, volunteer training, and many other important areas of Girl Scouting,” said Shelly Chenoweth, Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland CEO.  “The computers provided by High Touch will allow our staff team members to work more efficiently, which translates to more resources that can directly benefit our girls and volunteers.”

Deckinger said staying current with technology is a challenge many organizations face.  “Nonprofits have tight budgets, and often rely on donations to operate.  Our donation will help them be more productive (in their office environment).”

In addition to the donation, High Touch has volunteered it’s time to install and set up the computers for the nonprofit organizations.

A donation ceremony is being held February 2, at 10:00 am at Breakthrough at 1010 N. Main, Wichita, Kan., and at 2:00 pm at Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland, 360 Lexington, Wichita, Kansas Representatives of Breakthrough, Girl Scouts and High Touch will be present.

“I am so grateful that the people of High Touch have decided to make a difference and provide support to the Breakthrough community,” said Andres.

Breakthrough is dedicated to helping persons with mental illness rebuild their lives.  Through vocational and social programs such as educational assistance, job training, employment support, housing, transportation and wellness, they strive to give individuals hope for becoming more productive, independent citizens of our community.  For more information about Breakthrough, visit www.btcwichita.com.

Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland serves nearly 14,000 girls and adults in 80 Kansas counties through its operational headquarters in Wichita, Kan., and regional offices.  Founded in 1912, Girl Scouts is the leading authority on girls’ healthy
development and is the preeminent leadership development organization for girls.  Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.

High Touch, Inc. is an employee-owned company that provides technology solutions to small and mid-size businesses.  Based in Wichita, Kan., High Touch serves business clients with hardware and software services, Web site and Internet services, and network security solutions.  For more High Touch information, visit www.hightouchinc.com.

Rent-A-Center, Inc., headquartered in Plano, Texas, currently operates 3,000 company-owned stores nationwide and in Canada and Puerto Rico.  The stores generally offer high-quality, durable goods such as major consumer electronics, appliances, computers, furniture and accessories under flexible rental-purchase agreements that generally allow the customer to obtain ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed upon rental period.  The company employs more than 18,900 coworkers.  In Kansas, Rent-A-Center operates 34 rent-to-own stores, including five in Wichita.  FAC Financial Services, the company’s short-term lending business, operates 13 locations in the state.