Video by: Isaiah Showell, Follow South Jersey Multimedia Journalist/’What’s Good’ Host
Story by: Reney Waters, Follow South Jersey Bridgeton City Intern
VINELAND, N.J. — The Tri-County Rotary Club recently partnered with Jocovi Lindsey, the executive director of Project Inspiration, to donate 16 laptops to students in the Cumberland County area.
Lindsey made these students’ wishes come true after the Tri-County Rotary Club used its grant money to distribute Apple laptops to the Cumberland County students. Children who are less fortunate will now be able to gain the digital knowledge needed to be advanced in technology — knowledge that will be essential to their future, Lindsey believes.
“A lot of our kids are excluded from that digital platform,” he said. “With the way technology is constantly changing and at the pace that it’s constantly changing, a lot of our kids are being left behind in that digital race. With Project Inspiration’s Vision Board initiative, we want to make sure digital inclusion is front-and-center.”
“That will be their personal laptop. Some of them don’t have any means to do their schoolwork at home, so they can use that for whatever they need for education as well,” Colleen Ayala, President of the Tri-County Rotary Club, added. “And it was really inspired by Jocovi Lindsey.”
The students were not only grateful, but excited to receive their new laptops. Seniyah Boucker, a seventh grader who received a new laptop from the Tri-County Rotary Club, previously used a Chromebook from her school that she had to return at the end of the year. Boucker and her fellow students are thrilled to have new laptops that they can keep for as long as possible.
“I just feel really privileged, like my dad said, that I can have a computer for absolutely free that I get to take home and use for whatever I want to do, really,” Trevor Smith said with a beaming smile. “It’s really my own computer. I just got it, and I feel privileged that I can live in a city and state where people can afford to give me these types of privileges.”
The Tri-County Rotary Club is known for providing grant money to support communities in need, scholarships, and leadership programs. It places a huge emphasis on serving the community in its mission statement, and the 16 students who received their own laptops are a perfect example of their commitment to service.
You can find more information about Jocovi Lindsey’s Project Inspiration here.
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This article was produced by a Follow South Jersey news intern thanks to a grant provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the New Jersey Health Initiatives program to create hyper-local news to meet the informational and health needs of the City of Bridgeton, N.J.
