LOGAN SQUARE — Through a door off a Logan Square alley and down a twisting set of stairs lies what can only be described as an electronics dungeon.
The scene at FreeGeek is part Matrix and part community workshop.
The goal is to recycle as much computer equipment as possible while providing an education on the ins and outs of computers for anyone.
"It's definitely our secret clubhouse," said 36-year-old Jarrod Simpson.
Simpson started volunteering at FreeGeek about 2½ years ago and has since taken over as the online sales specialist selling obscure parts that are donated to FreeGeek to help keep the organization afloat.
FreeGeek Chicago launched 10 years ago as a nonprofit community organization that recycles used computer parts while providing job skills, training and computers to economically disadvantaged people.
The organization is part recycling center, part training center and part thrift shop selling computers for as low as $40.
Jarrod Simpson and Evelyn Lopez both started as volunteers at FreeGeek. [DNAinfo/Paul Biasco]
FreeGeek is a largely volunteer effort.
In 2014 the organization had 832 volunteers who racked up 18,755 hours of service.
Last year those volunteers helped recycle 37,600 pounds of material, mainly from donated computers and other electronics.
The sprawling basement headquarters, 3411 W. Diversey Ave., is filled with racks upon racks of computers, monitors, cables, hard drives and everything in between.
"When [volunteers] come in they are like 'Oh my god,'" said Evelyn Lopez, communications coordinator for FreeGeek.
Most volunteers come for the promise of a "free" computer after putting in 24 hours of their time.
After those 24 hours are up, the organization gives each volunteer a $75 voucher to go toward the purchase of a new computer and monitor from the "thrift shop."
Those computers run on Linux, a free open-source operating system.
The organization is hosting a sale Nov. 28 with desktops as low as $25 including a monitor.
"Theres a lot of retired people here, people who are in transition, looking for a second career and don’t know anything about computers," Simpson said. "This space gives them an opportunity to have a hands-on experience with those things that they were scared of or just didn’t understand.”
That process includes going through orientation, learning the basics of computers and how FreeGeek works and then working at stations such as teardown or build.
Teardown, where volunteers take donated computers down to the screws, seems to be a favorite.
"People don’t want to leave teardown. Sometimes it’s a little bit hard to get them go somewhere else and build computers," Lopez, a 30-year-old Humboldt Park resident said. "I think they just like knowing they can break things and there’s nothing they can do wrong."
Although most volunteers start working at FreeGeek to get the free computer, they always come back to continue volunteering, Lopez said.
"After your 24 hours you get to know the people and get to know who they are and start finding cool projects," she said. "It's like a little family."
Simpson, who first came as a volunteer with hopes of meeting other people who were interested in Linux, keeps coming back because of the community.
"A lot of people come down here just wanting to understand how computers work so they can keep up with their nieces and nephews and we completely turn them into nerds," he said.
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