Throughout the pandemic, much of daily life has shifted to the Internet, with classes, meetings and friendly hangouts all happening over Zoom, however, access to these services is not available to everyone.
Campbell River Rotarian Tara Jordan realized this at the height of the pandemic and spearheaded a Rotary District Community Grant to purchase 12 computers to donate to students who needed assistance with technology.
“The school district was providing devices to families that didn’t have them, but we learnt that they weren’t providing multiple devices — so even if you had many children, you still only got one,” said Rotary member Ian Baikie.
Rotary worked with the Laichwiltach Family Life Society, and purchased the computers from Campbell River-based IZCO Technology Solutions.
“We partnered with Laichwiltach Family Life Society because they have good connections with the people in that demographic,” Baikie explained. “These computers are going to become a resource that could be repurposed or reused in the future. Laichwiltach was willing to be the owners of the machines and to be the ones to track them and manage them into the future.”
“We also found a nice partner in IZCO Computers,” he added. “They said they’d provide the computers as well as ongoing service. If they need any further assistance with the computers, they’ll do that. They also take the new computers and set them up so they’re ready to go. Then they provide them with some service in the first year or two as they use them to make sure there’s no difficulties.”
The project just finished up as Jordan and Laichwiltach Family Life Society’s Audrey Wilson delivered the computers to the students.
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marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.com
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