GUILFORD COUNTY -- Thirty Guilford County students got a free computer Sunday as part of the annual Geek-A-Thon, an event that refurbishes and recycles computers and gives them to needy students.

Organizers say it's an opportunity to bridge the digital divide for students across the state.

“We've identified about 30 to 35 students who are coming in this afternoon to receive free computers. Deserving students with good grades who don't have computers,” Jack Deason, a program manager at Lenovo, said.

Lenovo got 130 volunteers to refurbish more than 100 computers for students across the state.

“We used our standard work areas where we do hardware and software refurbishing and reconfiguration and so it was worked great for the Geek-A-Thon,” Deason said.

Kramden Institute founder Mark Dibner said there's a connection between a student's performance and access to technology.

“We put it in two sentences. If you could imagine two kids in middle school -- one has a computer at home, the other doesn't -- which one do you think will do a lot better in school?" Dibner said. "We are trying to bridge that digital divide, not only for the kids, but their families and siblings as well.”

He said since its creation in 2003, they've been able to bring more than 10,000 people over the digital divide.

“And even though they can get some computer use at school, it's not enough.” Dibner said, “And other places like libraries often limit the amount of time a person can use a computer and getting to these libraries may not be safe. So these kids are at a disadvantage.”

But with each gift of a computer, one less child is at a disadvantage.

“I can do my work, and get good grades and have more time to do my work,” Guilford County student Paige Shepard said.

Dibner says he hopes to grow the weekend-long Geek-A-Thon event not only throughout the state of North Carolina, but the country.