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Screw Apple. Here's a link that lets you search from a comprehensive list of local non-profit computer re-purposers (scroll down the page a bit):

National Christina Foundation

They'll help your used chips find good homes in school computers and so forth: http://www.cristina.org/aboutus.html

There is a book used for this. We donate old hardware through the Cristina Foundation and they give us a slip for taxes that states the fair market value based on some book or another.

I really cannot remember off the top of my head, but it is probably something along the lines of the Orion Blue Book"

Yesterday afternoon I received a Dell ad in the mail. On the back cover, they advertise a new PC recylcing service. For $7.50, you can recycle up to 50 lbs of computer equipment, up to three items from any manufacturer. Additionally, they give you a handy 10% off coupon for use toward a new Dell purchase.

Furthermore, they have also launched a new Dell Donations program to benefit the National Cristina Foundation. If you have hardware (ad says 'above Pentium I'--ambiguous as to whether or not your P-166 would be accepted), they'll take it and fix it up for disabled/disadvantaged children and adults.

Instead of forcing you to drive or UPS it to a distribution center or a warehouse, they send an Airborne Express guy out to your house or business to pick it up. I have to admit, I'm rather impressed by this program.

More information available here.

Look at the Dell page - it's a Recycle/DONATE page, routing donated PCs through the National Cristinia Foundation. I'm not sure whether they use Linux on donated machines (or if they'd leave it on if it was there already), but it would be worth discussing with them.

From their mission statement:

"National Cristina Foundation (NCF) provides computer technology and solutions
to give people with disabilities, students at risk and economically
disadvantaged persons the opportunity, through training, to lead more
independent and productive lives."

Their start was in providing computers as educational assistance to
disabled or impoverished students, but they have expanded over time to
promotion of community assistance at the grassroots level, and providing
adult education, training, refurbished computers and even job opportunities
for project participants and volunteers.

Feel good and make others feel good - win/win!

I should also point out the NewDeal software, which provides a nice, memory-light operating system for even the puniest old machines.

They directed my old PC to an Atlanta charity that refurbishes wheelchairs and PCs.

These are examples of on-going grass roots organizations to recycle computers for the disabled and for education. Although, the focus may be on the economically disadvantaged.

I lived in Utah 10 years ago, and I know what you mean about it being conservative. With Utah spending dead last per student on education, you could say that all Utah students are economically disadvantaged...

That being said, if I were in Utah and I really wanted to see a project move forward to provide computers for kids in schools (or out), I might look into working with The Predominant Religion. You'd have donations of time, people and facilities for such an effort coming out of the woodwork. The issues of exposing kids to the nasty Internet would be handled by someone else.

If The Church were involved, the chances that someone would sue if somehow a child used a donated computer to access something blacklisted would be much decreased. And, if someone did sue, they would probably go after some of the gilding on the Moroni rather than some individual volunteer's pockets.