# Fairmount: New Skills, New Life

Nonprofit Technology Resources (NTR) located on the 1500 block of Brandywine Street strives to provide low-cost computers to Philadelphians while also changing lives. A couple years ago, Melvin Bonilla, 24, of Kensington was a stressed out individual who quit his job and turned to drug dealing to pay the bills. A giant leap from where he stands today, behind the counter at NTR selling refurbished computers. “It’s pretty cool helping the customers out because a lot of them don’t know about computers, so it’s like helping a kid learn how to use his first toy,” said Bonilla of his current job. ![](https://philadelphianeighborhoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/sp1124techntr6-300x228.jpg)Melvin Bonilla instructs a customer at Nonprofit Technology Resources computer thrift store. Bonilla found the gig at NTR through the Welfare program, “I went to the Welfare office and said I needed some money, I’m tired of being home.” He told the welfare office he was interested in learning about computers after he saw his friend making over $20 an hour working as a help desk technician. Bonilla entered a six-month training program where he earned his A+ and IC3 certificates, a must have for a help desk applicant. He then started working his way around NTR starting in the donations area then moving to desktop refurbishing, quality control, laptop refurbishing and finally landing a paid position in the NTR store. He is also helping his neighbors by fixing their computers for a fraction of the price they would pay at a computer store. Bonilla is the first one at the store each morning to open the gate and get everything started. With a smile he said, “You know how everybody wakes up in the morning thinking ‘Oh, I don’t want to go to work.’ I don’t have that feeling.”