How it started
When we arrived in California with almost nothing, strangers helped us. A neighbor bought us a mattress, two hundred dollars we could not spare at the time. He told me: “when you are on your feet, remember people in the same place.”
A few years later, a client decided not to repair a working microwave. I asked if I could take it. I fixed it on a workbench in our garage and delivered it to a church in Sacramento that serves refugee families. The next week, a colleague gave us a refrigerator with a failing compressor, rebuilt it, delivered it. That was the start.
What Tech Aid is
Tech Aid for Refugees is a registered 501(c)(3) public nonprofit (EIN 93-3707362) founded in September 2023, based in San Ramon, serving the San Francisco, San Jose, and Sacramento metropolitan areas. We help newly-arrived refugee and asylum-seeker families furnish their first American homes, with donated and refurbished appliances, furniture, and household essentials.
Over a hundred families helped so far, primarily Ukrainian families who fled the war and arrived with almost nothing. Others are political refugees from Russia who opposed the regime, like our own family was in 2019. Some are from other conflict regions. The mission is simple: the difference between a mattress on the floor and a functioning home, we give to them now, because that difference was made for us when we arrived.
A working refrigerator changes what a family’s first week in America feels like. That is the work. That is why we do it.
How your HVAC install helps
Most of the equipment that flows into Tech Aid arrives the same way: a homeowner replaces a working but inefficient system, and the old unit is fully serviceable for someone who has nothing. Pickup and routing happens on the same day as your install, no extra effort on your part.
- Book an HVAC installation or replacement.
Contact us for a free estimate on any new system install or full replacement.
- We identify Tech Aid-eligible equipment.
During the estimate, we flag any old equipment, AC units, furnaces, air handlers, electric water heaters, that is still functional or refurbishable.
- We coordinate free pickup and delivery.
On install day, we take the old equipment to the Tech Aid warehouse. You do not do anything extra.
- You receive a tax-deductible receipt.
Tech Aid issues you a proper 501(c)(3) donation receipt for your equipment’s fair market value. Deduct it on next year’s taxes.
Your old heat pump does not go to the landfill. It goes to a family who could not otherwise afford one. You get a tax deduction. The equipment gets a second life.
What your participation adds up to
Since September 2023 we have served more than one hundred families. The appliance refurbishment program runs continuously out of our San Ramon facility, and a trade-training pilot for adult refugees, teaching basic repair so families can earn income servicing donated equipment themselves, is in growing stages with three apprentices currently active.
Three ways to participate
Donate appliances during your HVAC install. When we replace your system, we route the old equipment to Tech Aid. You get a written 501(c)(3) receipt for the fair market value. No coordination on your end.
Financial donation. Direct support for refugee families. Visit techaidforrefugees.org and select “Donate.” Tax-deductible under EIN 93-3707362.
Volunteer. Warehouse coordination, delivery routing, intake. We always need help during high-arrival weeks. techaidforrefugees.org/volunteer.
Partners and supporters
Companies and local businesses that have contributed equipment, financial support, or volunteer time: Microsoft, Amazon, Stowers Real Estate, Intempus Property Management, SFS, Locanda, VROS, WClub. We mention them by name because their participation is real and continuing, not because we needed a logo wall.
Why we do it
Human relationships are the cornerstone of home services. That is why this program exists. When a family arrives in California from Kharkiv or Kyiv or Donetsk with nothing, a working refrigerator changes what their first week in America feels like. That is the work. That is why we do it.
Donate while you upgrade
Schedule an install. We handle the rest.
Old equipment goes to a family that needs it · tax-deductible receipt