It’s just a little retail IT shop tucked away in Commerce Court, Noosaville, but owner Brendan Melling is creating there a new and hopeful world for youth and victims of domestic violence.
Brendan is a quietly spoken 48 year old who believes in giving a sheltered environment to young people with problems like autism, depression and anxiety. In any one week, he has up to nine working for him, doing repairs and refurbishing computers, laptops and mobile phones, tablets through to drones.
“I just feel they should be given the skills and the opportunity to develop and make a life for themselves.”
He also believes women who have endured domestic violence deserve a fresh start.
“When nurses at Sunshine Coast University Hospital get women who are being abused, they send them to the shop where we help them to get control of the email accounts, Facebook and provide a computer and phones – clean, safe and ready to use – to try to get their lives back.”
As well, Rotary Club of Eumundi members have heard of the service My IT Shop provides and are helping to obtain donations from the public in unused technology to assist people in need.
Says Brendan: “For a person suffering domestic violence and trying to rebuild their life a donated laptop can help apply for jobs. A tablet can allow a child to complete schoolwork. A phone can mean safety and independence.
“All my workers have purple t-shirts with DV messages which they wear on Fridays.”
My IT Shop was at Noosa Civic for 15 years before moving to Commerce Court and Brendan’s decision to form the team is due to his son William who has autism and now works in the business. “A year ago he struggled to talk to people he doesn’t know. Now he is serving customers.”
He is convinced helping his young people with difficulties builds their confidence and gives them skill sets able to help them to progress through high school, university or to bigger and better careers.
“It gives them an opportunity to get a job but it’s important to install a sense of community pride and assist where you can,“ he said.
“I’ve worked for big business and I’ve watched it chew people with learning difficulties up and spit them out. There was nothing I could do at the time to stop it. School doesn’t prepare them for life. It doesn’t prepare them for how to deal with angry customers who don’t understand technology or expectations, how to deal with people with different ideas, how society works.
“It’s sink or swim and a lot of them sink, and I would like to help more. This is my third rotation of staff since we moved to Commerce Court. It’s a better set up. I’ve helped so far about 27 young people.
“I have two who now work with my opposition, and I was asked how I felt about that and I said that’s great, it helps us raise the bar higher and it’s awesome to know our staff have opportunities.”
Brendan says the skill level is high.
“People with these issues are far better suited to these types of jobs than people who are not due to the complexity and their ability to complete the job.
“For example, they pull apart computers and they might put through 10 to 16 in a day. A person who doesn’t have that type of cognitive ability would get bored after an hour or so. You have to meticulously remember what type of screw went into what hole and where it sits on a programming board, breakdown the issues and solve the problem.
“When you’ve finished you start again and each job is different”
His customer base includes the young to the elderly and veterans.
“They come in with questions like ‘how do I work my mobile phone?’ or ‘have I been scammed?’ to ‘I dropped my phone’ and we basically give them the information. The first five minutes free of charge.”
Brendan is thinking of setting up his business as a ‘not for profit’ but says he is not sure about what’s involved.
“I spoke to my accountant and she was gobsmacked by the sort of services we are offering the public.
“I didn’t come here to make a million dollars. I came to help young people get a start and the community.”
Donations of mobile phones, computers, laptops and tablets may be made at My IT Shop at 6-9 Commerce Court, Noosaville or to the Rotary Club of Eumundi.
