As a philanthropy project, members of the RIT fraternity Phi Kappa Psi spent time refurbishing computers and donating them to recent graduates of the Hillside Work Scholarship program — people stepping into new opportunities who needed the right tools to get there.

Seeing firsthand how much a working computer could mean to someone, the students didn’t stop there. They took that momentum and built something lasting, formally founding a nonprofit called The Shore Foundation to keep getting refurbished technology into the hands of Rochester community members who needed it.

That organization grew into what is now Shift2, still rooted in the same belief that existing technology, handled the right way, can make a real difference in people’s lives.

It started with a few laptops and a group of students who paid attention. That’s still what drives the work today.