Say a corporation, foundation, or school district suddenly found itself in need of a few thousand laptop computers.

Apparently, no amount of money would help.

“If I had a $1 million check to write right now, I couldn't go to these huge suppliers and say, ‘Give me 5,000 laptops,’” Michelle Leeper, head of client relations for Aeras Technologies, said Friday.

The coronavirus remains a key reason. The number of people working and studying from home has surged since March, creating massive demand and a backlog of orders, and a shortage of laptops and other devices, according to reports.

Some school districts, such as Orange County Public Schools, say their students now have the laptops they require.

Yet still seeing a need, the Aeras Foundation says it will accept technology donations Saturday at two Central Florida drop-off locations — from 9 a.m. to noon at Winter Park National Bank, and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tohopekaliga High School in Kissimmee. Visit the foundation’s website for directions and registration details.

The effort follows a similar drive during the summer, when the Foundation for Seminole County Public Schools solicited laptop donations for loan to low-income households with students in the district's Seminole Connect or Seminole County Virtual School programs.

Leeper, of Aeras Technologies, said the Maitland-based business- and education-focused technology company launched the Aeras Foundation this year after seeing the effect the pandemic was having on students in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties.

Leeper pointed to not only the shortage of new computers but to layoffs that have devastated Central Florida families and industries, making computers difficult for many families to afford.

“We have thousands of students who need the hardware so we can get them online and get them graduated so they can move on,” she said. “They're being left behind right now, so we want to fill that need right now.”

The Aeras Foundation says on its website that it accepts “gently used” technology from those who wish to donate. Because of its expertise, Leeper said, the foundation can clean and, if needed, repair equipment and put it “back in the hands of someone.”

The organization also accepts monetary donations for equipment purchase and repairs. Perhaps especially, it seeks corporate sponsors who might help to provide “a seeding of inventory so that we don’t get behind the 8-ball like this again,” Leeper said.

As for Saturday’s event at Tohopekaliga High School, Leeper said organizers chose the school as a drop-off location because of its proximity to residents in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties and its standing as a school that specializes in Science, Technology, Engineering, The Arts, and Math, or STEAM.

She said the foundation would provide donated equipment to students in the three counties based on need.

The Osceola County School District needs computers but says it must approve any donations to its schools. “Should they choose to give devices to students, the donation will be strictly between Aeras and the parents,” Martha Mann, a spokeswoman for the Osceola district, told Spectrum News 13 in an email.

At Orange County Public Schools, spokesman Michael Ollendorff said in an email that “there was a period that some students were waiting for computers to arrive due to the pandemic and the worldwide shortage” but that the district now sees “no significant demand for devices.”

Yet Ollendorff said the district welcomes equipment donations “as there are times when a student’s device is in need of repair due to normal wear and tear.”

Leeper said the Aeras Foundation and the Winter Park-based group Army of Angels strive to help, adding: “What we're doing is recycling, and taking it from a home that might have extra, or taking it from a corporation that has extra, and I’m putting it in the hands of a child who doesn't have any.”