Appeal to provide free internet for children £1.2m fundraising target to enable online learning
THE Ormskirk Advertiser and and LancsLive are joining the fight to ensure kids who are struggling with the challenges of home schooling can get the support they need.
Across the region many families are finding it hard and costly to get internet access so their children can continue their education during the Coronavirus lockdown.
In some homes, there might be no access to a home computer or laptop, which makes home schooling virtually impossible in a time when computers are such a key part of the education process.
In recent weeks there has been amazing work done by community groups and charities to mobilise efforts to ensure much-needed laptops are getting to the kids who need them the most.
But for many, the challenge of internet access will remain.
We’re not all fortunate enough to have Wifi or broadband, and connecting to the internet can be a costly affair, especially when it means eating up mobile data to do so.
So today the Ormskirk Advertiser and LancsLive are teaming up with other news brands in the region and beyond, and joining forces with the Northern Powerhouse-backed Laptops for Kids campaign’s push to raise £1.2m to help provide free internet access to 100,000 households across the North.
The Cash For Connectivity appeal will fund the purchase of internet access dongles – hardware devices – that can connect laptops and up to five other devices to the internet.
In Lancashire, we need your help toward raising enough to support an initial 500 families in the county, with a view to helping many, many more.
David Richards, founder and CEO of data software company WANdisco, also founded the Laptops for Kids campaign.
He described the Cash For Connectivity Campaign as a “quick and inexpensive fix to an urgent social problem”. He said: “Connectivity is as important as water, and should be freely available to those in need.
“Together we can help end the data drought in the North of England.”