From Lunchtime Refurbs to Leading Change: Riley’s Journey Bridging the Digital Divide

Our partner charity, Digital Future Aotearoa, is helping close the digital divide across Aotearoa through their Recycle A Device programme. Riley started out fixing laptops in her school lunch breaks. Today she is helping communities across the country learn the same skills and access the technology they need.

When Riley Pugh first joined Recycle A Device (RAD) as a high school student, she didn’t imagine she would one day be leading training across Aotearoa. 

She started by spending her lunch breaks refurbishing donated laptops at Aotea College in Porirua, the birthplace of the programme. Today, she is Recycle A Device’s Lead Trainer, supporting more than 35 student and community RAD clubs nationwide while studying Electrical Engineering at the University of Canterbury. 

Her journey reflects the heart of our work: young people learning practical technology skills while helping other young people access the tools they need to learn. 

But Riley is quick to point out something many people don’t realise. 

“People don’t understand the size of the digital divide,” she says. “Without a device, you’re locked out of modern life.” 

Across Aotearoa, more than 100,000 households with students do not have access to a laptop at home. Nationally, over one million people face barriers to digital access - whether that is a lack of devices, internet connectivity, or confidence with technology. 

For many families, the cost of a basic computer and an internet connection simply doesn’t fit into already stretched budgets. When that happens, it is often young people who carry the consequences, unable to complete homework at home, apply for part-time work, or access online learning tools. 

Recycle A Device exists to change that. 

In 2025 alone, 2,585 laptops were refurbished and gifted into communities. At a cost of just $170 per device, each laptop represents a highly cost-effective way to unlock education, employment and opportunity while also diverting electronic waste from landfill. 

Riley has seen the impact behind those numbers. 

During a recent training workshop in Whangārei, she worked with a community group learning how computers function and how to repair them. At the end of the day, participants were able to take home the laptops they had restored. 

One participant, a young mother of two, had been trying to search for work using her child’s school Chromebook because she didn’t own a computer or smartphone.

“She came up to thank me at the end,” Riley recalls. “She finally had a way to apply for jobs properly. No one should be in a position where they can’t look for work because they don’t have a device.” 

What makes this story even more powerful is that Riley herself represents the ripple effect of access. The same programme that once built her skills and confidence now enables her to train others, strengthening communities nationwide. 

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One Percent Collective donors who support Digital Future Aotearoa help fund the Recycle A Device programme. And behind every donation is more than a refurbished laptop.

• It is access to education. 
• It is a pathway into engineering. 
• It is a family gaining independence. 
• It is an opportunity. 

And through people like Riley, the digital divide becomes smaller, one device at a time.

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Words and images supplied by Digital Future Aotearoa.