# IEA spearheads computer donations for Afghan refugees at Camp Atterbury

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** IEA - Infrastructure & Energy Alternatives
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtAhFn_Rbq8
- **Дата:** 28.10.2021
- **Длительность:** 4:13
- **Просмотры:** 82
- **Источник:** https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/52690

## Описание

While having coffee with his wife one Saturday, Senior Vice President of Information Technology Brian Newgent came across a news story about an initiative to collect computers for Afghan refugees at Camp Atterbury.

“I’m going to build these people a computer lab next week,” Newgent said to his wife.

And he got to work.

That Monday, he brought the initiative to IEA, quickly getting support from CEO JP Roehm, CFO Pete Moerbeek and the IT group. Moving rapidly and precisely, the IT team gathered around 100 laptops and tablets (several unused) and prepped them for new users to log on.

Rupal Thanawala, the woman who began the initiative at Camp Atterbury, was overwhelmed with the support the Indianapolis community provided.

“I would say my heart is full, said Thanawala. “Thanks to IEA, refugees will be able to make a resume and look for a job.  We can give them all the resources to be successful and independent on their own.”

Newgent cited IEA’s strong commitment to giving back as a k

## Транскрипт

### Intro []

i've always been very decisive uh it's just part of my fiber i suppose most recently having lost my son six months ago i made a commitment that i would be very involved in different initiatives that involved at-risk kids underserved youth and i used to teach high school and taught at-risk kids and some of my greatest accomplishments are the successes those kids are having today when they came to us with really no hope i'm brian nugent i am the senior vice president of technology for ia

### IEAs involvement [0:35]

so sunday i was reading the news and came across a story about rupaul who is putting together an initiative and she is working with some of the afghan refugees that are being housed at camp atterbury as i read the story and some of the goals that they had for the program i quickly decided that it was something that not only i wanted to be personally involved in but wanted iea to be involved in as well it was my goal to establish a computer lab for this initiative as one of the goals was to work with the children that were part of the refugee group that represents about 45 percent housed at camp atterbury i can say with near certainty that no seven-year-old asked to be in this situation and it was important to me that we give them the best opportunity to succeed in our country that we could a couple of weeks back i was here at camp peterbury and i was speaking to officers over here trying to understand what are the gaps what are the challenges that they have to meet the needs of the guests i thought how about digital equity are they having access to technology and they said yeah i think that's a great idea if you can do it so my original goal was that i may collect 50 laptops or tablets or ipads and now i have more than 250. it just happened two weeks back and brian came forward within three days and made a huge donation here

### The process [2:14]

so the first thing we do is we go through our back inventory and we determine what is redistributable and not what we will send back out to the field or what we would normally give to recycling or different charities and in this particular case as we work through that inventory it was pretty clear that we would have enough to meet her goal having been with the company for 14 years i have seen it from a family run business to where we are today and there has always been a theme that we give back to our community shortly before this chat we wrapped up a walk for saint jude the company has always been family first people first and we're always involved in different charities and different forms of giving across all of our companies which span almost the entire united states he also gave me an encouragement that you know we have very kind generous and giving community that i can count on and everyone is so supportive of this project

### My hope [3:25]

for me my hope is that the success that i've had personally in the past working with at-risk kids and placements and career help that i was able to give i hope that today that we have that same success as a company at camp atterbury and give the kids down there an opportunity to really get a leg up if you will i think that this will be a great first step to them building confidence building belief in themselves and begin to integrate into our country