story and photo by Jess McCuan

A year ago, Jennifer Mayer decided to give away computers—no small thing, considering she runs a business that sells them. But she wasn’t giving them away to just anyone. And she didn’t decide to stop selling them either. She simply found a way to use her successful computer repair and sales company, Charlotte Street Computers, to fund a charitable program called e-cycleme.com, which gives away refurbished computers to people who need them.

In September, Jennifer and her husband Greg Mayer, who founded the business in 2000, opened their third Charlotte Street Computers location, a sleek blue building with metallic accents on South Lexington Avenue behind The Orange Peel. After a ribbon-cutting bash with performances by rock bands and food served out of a 32-foot ketchup bottle (the party was also attended by Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy and other council members), the hard work of recycling donated computers began. Four employees at the Lexington Avenue office work on e-cycleme.com, breaking down computer parts to sell on eBay or fixing up donated computers to give away. Other employees at the Lexington building sell brand-new Macs out of a sunny showroom at the front of the building, which helps fund the recycling program. 

To help with the difficult problem of deciding who gets a free computer, Jennifer enlisted the A-B Tech Foundation, which singles out needy students, and the Eblen-Kimmel Charitable Group, which selects non-students. With a voucher from one of these places, all a person has to do is walk into the new store and pick up a computer. So far, the Mayers have given away around 50 of them. “It could be college students or single moms—basically, whoever needs one,” Mayer says. 

Her goal for the near future is to install free computers in Asheville’s public housing authority buildings and community centers—especially colorful iMacs and eMacs in places where young people would use them. Next stop: The Oprah Winfrey Show. She’s looking for Oprah’s endorsement to help her roll out the program nationally. 

For more information, visit ecycleme.com.