Gerlitz refurbishes and donates 100th computer

DAYTON–Long time and now retired Dayton School District teacher Gordon Gerlitz was celebrated for refurbishing his one hundredth computer, which he in turn donated back into the community at Locally Nourished recently.

Gerlitz's experience began around 1977, when he used a Radio Shack TRS 80 and Commodore 64 to introduce computers to his students. Naturally, upon his retirement in 2000, the obvious next step was to start a computer business which was the birth of G Whiz Computing in 2010, which closed December 2023. Over the next 13 years, he helped many private and small business people troubleshoot computer mistakes, recover lost data, explain new programing, and refurbish donated computers.

He enjoyed a gathering with two instrumental people in his venture of refurbishing used computers, Chrisann Christensen, the first computer donor, and Katie Leid, the one hundredth donor.

"I think he advertised on Facebook," said Christensen. "At that time, my daughter and I had some computers that we replaced, so it seemed like good way to offload those and repurpose them. He was my high school teacher, so I trusted he would clean the computers and donate them to an appropriate person or agency."

"I respected him and what he was doing for the community, so I wanted to give back anyway I could," said Leid.

Gerlitz received computers from people who had no use for an old, seemingly non-working model, or when they updated to a newer version, or downsized. Those who donated were asked if they had a charity preference such as Project Timothy, YWCA, or other program. Generally, they indicated it should go where it is needed. He would then clean and scrub the computer, then offer it to someone in need of a computer.

He can be reached at [email protected].