Bill Weaks Employee Profile
Published Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Bill Weaks has been in a wheelchair since 1997, but he doesn't let that slow him down. He's been a member of the team at Kingdom Projects, Inc. for two years, working in the electronics recycling department. According to the staff at Kingdom Projects, he is one of the most dedicated members of the team.

"Bill is one of the most determined people I know," says Steve Mallinckrodt, assistant manager of Kingdom Projects. "On a couple of occasions, when his ride fell through, he traveled three miles to work in his motorized wheelchair – at least once through snow."

In the electronics recycling department Bill handles a long list of electronic devices, including old copy machines and computers. Each of the items are disassembled, separating the parts that can be refurbished and reused, and those that can be recycled.

"We can take out the parts, like the high and low grade circuit boards, the CPU and memory chips, the fans and power supplies," says Weaks. "High-grade circuit boards actually have a bit of gold in them. We make sure nothing like that just ends up in the landfill."

Kingdom Projects will accept many different types of electronic devices, and attempts to recycle or refurbish every piece that it receives. It is truly amazing the amount that can be recycled from the items that come in.

"We can usually get quite a bit out of an old computer or copy machine," says Mallinckrodt. "We can refurbish the items that haven't gone bad, and can recycle the aluminum and wires."

While Weaks deals with a lot of computers and copy machines, sometimes Kingdom Projects is not even sure what it is getting. However, Weaks enjoys working with the variety of electronic devices and gadgets that find their way to him when especially interesting and unique items come to Kingdom Projects.

"Lots of times we'll have something come in and we don't even know what it is," says Weaks. "One time we had an old reel-to-reel machine come in. It was really interesting to take that apart. We also had an old polygraph machine come in one time."

Weaks said that the most interesting item to cross his path was a printing press from Ovid Bell Press.

"I looked at it and thought 'What in the world am I getting myself into?'" says Weaks. "It was built so strangely that it took me two weeks to get it apart. One screw would go down and another would come up through the same piece of metal, and there would only be about a half an inch of clearance to get a tool in to get it off."

While dealing with interesting pieces of electronics and machinery is fun for Weaks, he says the best thing about his job is the people he works with. He especially enjoys the opportunity to teach his co-workers about electronics and other devices.

"There are a lot of great people here," says Weaks. "I really like teaching what I know about the parts and motors and stuff to the guys I work with. It's really a great team here."

When Weaks is not at Kingdom projects, he loves to camp and fish, and like any good fisherman, he always has a story to tell.

"Last Sunday, I caught three nice bullheads…and a snapping turtle!" says Weaks. "He tried to take me and my wheels into the lake with him, but I got him."

Getting those wheels wet would not have been good for his chair, and having Weaks out of commission for any length of time would not be good for the electronics recycling department at Kingdom Projects. However, Mallinckrodt admits that Weaks would probably still find a way to make it into work.

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