By Rachel Basinger

Published: Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 6:32 p.m.
Updated: Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Goodwill store in Uniontown has gotten some help from an unlikely source.

Students in John Hamman's electronics technology class at the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center have been hard at work repairing some older televisions.

It was the idea of one student in particular, David Chearney. He was given a communications project as part of his Boy Scouts requirements to mix school work with Boy Scouts.

After talking with Hamman, Chearney called Goodwill in Uniontown and asked if they could use some donated, refurbished televisions to sell at their store.

Gary Gibson, director of operations for the Goodwill stores in Fayette County, said he thought it was a good idea.

Student Jesse George said the class got several televisions from the high school to work on and decided to donate those to Goodwill.

Christy May, store manager for the Goodwill in Uniontown, said that any kind of electronics -- from televisions and VCRs to DVD players and stereos — are all pretty popular sellers.

Gibson said Goodwill's mission is to improve the quality of life through work and related services, and all of the money that comes from the retail end helps support their programs.

Hamman said the students worked nearly a month to repair the televisions.

"It's really a win-win situation," he said. "The students have the opportunity to put what they've learned into practice, and Goodwill can benefit as well."

George added that the environment also benefits from not putting the televisions into the landfills. "Some televisions have different chemicals, especially mercury. That's not good for the environment."

The students said they enjoy the opportunity to work on all types of electronics in their class.

"We get TVs and all kinds of electronics in that we fix up and give back to the person who brought them," George said. "If they donate it to our class and we fix it up, then we do sell them."

The students said they always like it when an Xbox or any other gaming system is brought in for repair because they, of course, get to test it when they're finished, to make sure it works.

Hamman said right now the class is winding down on scheduling repairs for area residents since the school year is ending soon.

However, individuals are welcome to call 724-626-0236 to schedule repairs at the start of the school year in September.

Also, on Friday, the class will host a hard-to-recycle day for electronics. Individuals can bring their old, unused or broken electronics to the front of the career and technical center throughout the school day.

IF YOU GO...

WHAT: Hard-to-recycle day for electronics

WHEN: Friday during school hours

WHERE: Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center

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