Submitted by brittany.conley
on Wed, 06/30/2021
Your faithful giving enabled isolated students to learn remotely during the pandemic. Through a partnership with Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative (PRTC) and their fiber-wired broadband cable, Christian Appalachian Project (CAP), and you helped provide wireless access for remote learning.
“When learning shifted to a virtual format, the challenges presented to families without internet service and their teachers were tremendous,” said Liz Phelps, manager of Camp AJ. The plan had been for teachers to upload lessons and resources to flash drives, then mail them or drop them off to students who didn’t have Internet service at home. “Needless to say, these students were falling behind quickly. In addition to not having access to virtual learning, these students were also cut off from social interactions with their classmates and teachers. We were all looking for creative ways to bridge the gap.”
PRTC heard about the need and stepped in to provide free internet access to about 40 families unable to afford it for the school year. Camp AJ staff worked closely with the district’s Family Resource Centers to identify families that did not have Internet service and would be interested in signing up. Because CAP staff are so closely involved in their communities, they quickly developed creative ways to contact these families, as many of them also did not have reliable phone service.
With your support, CAP’s ingenuity, and PRTC’s help, many children who might have fallen behind in their education were able to stay connected and keep learning.
“Our children are our future, and we are all about helping our community,” said PRTC CEO Keith Gabbard, a native of McKee, Kentucky. “When I was growing up, all we heard was what we didn’t have. I am blessed to have a job here in this community where children can grow up and go to college but have jobs they can come back to.”
The ability to learn remotely was a godsend for these families. God bless you for making the education of children in need in Appalachia a priority. You are changing their lives through your compassion.
