In April 2006, the goal of providing refurbished computers to underprivileged students in the Sarasota K-12 schools was the meeting topic attended by the Education Foundation, Sarasota County and Vitil.  Each party had something to offer to this goal, but each had boundaries that made it impossible for any one organization to provide an end to end solution.  Prior to this date, a volunteer effort led by Ron Zimmerman, a teacher at Sarasota Schools, had been doing this work.  Ron was very successful on his own, but needed more storage space and was limited by how much time he could devote outside of teaching.

The discussion led to a unique collaboration between a non-profit, County Government and local private company has become a highly successful program and innovative business model.  The Education Foundation branded this program as Texcellence.  To date, over 450 computers have been distributed.  A key to making this possible was through connecting with another innovator, Al Weis, who has become an ongoing financial donor to this program.  Since then, other donors have joined has well.

Sarasota County refreshes their computers every 4 years and the exiting computers are donated to Texcellence.  Vitil provides the warehousing space, refurbishment services and logistical support as a contractor for Texcellence. 

Vitil is pleased to support our community with our technology towards this positive endeavor.  We hope that other communities copy this idea and present their own creative collaboration methods for us to use and further benefit our community.