7 year old grandson moves into Grandmother's Help needed with PCs, stereos, cds etc

[Deleted User]

7 year old grandson has just moved in with my friend, (his grandmother). She's on incapacity benefit and her son also lives with her. :eek:

The financial situation is too complex to even think about repeating here, but needless to say they are struggling to make ends meet. A couple of people from church regularly take around food and it's always gratefully received.

My job is to find things for a little as possible, preferably free, for a 7 year old boy who has nothing really. Receiving charity is never fun, so if I can truthfully say it was free, my friend from church doesn't owe me anything and will feel at ease.

So I need the collective brain power of all you MSE's! Can you recommend any good places to find an old pc for free (windows 98, ME), school software and books for a 7 year old, music cd's and the usual seven year old boy's stuff. I don't think he's got anything from what I've seen.

Many thanks and I'm looking forward to reading the suggestions

hjb123

I dont mean to sound mean but I probably do!

There will be alot of people that would love some of these things for free but I think that you are going to have to be willing to fork out unless you know anyone nearby who would be getting rid of stuff - it might be worth sayign what area you are from?.

Probably best looking in the classified ads in the local papers and see whats in there. I know out local paper often has lots of peoples second hand pcs, stereos etc for sale.

elona

Have you had a look on the freebies site here?

I got some nice stuff for my daughter - books etc.

Have you also thought of freecycle?

trafalgar_2

Ring your local social services department and they should be able to put you in touch with organisations that can help,such as any local childrens charites,community projects etc

[Deleted User]

Hi hjb 123

I agree with you. We'd all like these things and we all work for them. But when your Age 7 and your life hasn't had much stability and your family has next to nothing it can't look very promising.

I'm not after donations, but suggestions, in case I've missed or overlooked something. The more brains the better. For all I know there might be special help for single parent families or people on incapacity benefit etc. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

[Deleted User]

elona wrote:

Have you had a look on the freebies site here?

I got some nice stuff for my daughter - books etc.

Have you also thought of freecycle?

Thank you. I have put an advert on my local free cycle after seeing it on MSE last week. I have also used it to recycle some stuff too. It's great. I will also check out the freebies site too. Thank you

honey

All I can think of is - could he join the local library?

He would be able to have free computer use and also be able to borrow books for free.

Lorian

hjb123 wrote:

I dont mean to sound mean but I probably do!

I probably sound even worse, but if I were a 7 year old again without much then a library ticket and a trip to show me how to use it would be worth a lot.

finc

Hi, I don't know where you live but if you're near Manchester or know anyone that does I've got an old computer going spare. It's windows ME and can be a bit slow but may do until something better comes along.

Finc.

Dora_the_Explorer_5

If he's doing anything to help his gran because of her disability - anything at all, why not get in touch with your local Young Carers project? They're always a great source of help and support, which may well include some of the things you've mentioned in your post.

[Deleted User]

finc wrote:

Hi, I don't know where you live but if you're near Manchester or know anyone that does I've got an old computer going spare. It's windows ME and can be a bit slow but may do until something better comes along.

Finc.

Thank you for your offer :T , but unfortunately I'm in Coventry in the West Midlands. I was hoping to find someone like you who wants the space in their house back around this area, but will keep you in mind if I really can't find something locally. Many thanks