Rehoming digital devices

The Reconnect Project
Selfless. Giving. Hard-working

Annette Mayne has provided over 300 mobile devices to vulnerable people while keeping useable phones, tablets and laptops out of landfill.

Annette founded The Reconnect Project to tackle the surge in e-waste among financially advantaged consumers and the disparity between the haves and have-nots when it comes to accessing technology.

Her social enterprise refurbishes pre-loved devices – after erasing sensitive data -- before passing them on to caseworkers from local services who distribute them to people who can’t afford to buy their own device.

The initiative has helped women fleeing domestic violence who need a clean phone that an aggressor can't track.

In response to COVID-19, the project donated laptops to refugee families to use for home schooling and to people with mental illness to access online counselling.

The devices are also a life changer for formerly homeless youth who are re-engaging with education.

Annette is honoured to be nominated as a Westfield Local Hero. “There is no other organisation providing this service in Australia. Every week I receive more and more emails from caseworkers who are desperate to source devices for their clients. Clearly, there is a need for what I am doing, which is a big motivator,” she says.

Westfield Local Heroes are nominated and voted for by their communities, with the three top finalists per Westfield centre each awarded a $10,000 grant for their affiliated organisation. The Reconnect Project will use its funds to help cover the $100-250 cost of repairing each mobile device.

For further information on the Westfield Local Heroes program, click here