Generous Padiham IT firm's laptop donation will help struggling children to learn from home during pandemic

A rural Ribble Valley primary school and a charity for young people are the beneficiaries of a local company’s Tech 4 All Kids campaign.
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Chatburn C of E Primary School and Reachout.work charity, Clitheroe, each received a welcome donation of laptops from Padiham business Rapid IT.

Saddened that so many children across the area were at a learning disadvantage as they didn’t have access to a laptop or computer, Rapid IT decided to step in and help, collecting

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and refurbishing donated equipment and distributing it to those in need.

Managing director of Reachout.work Karen Lynch accepts Rapid IT’s donation of laptops for the charity.Managing director of Reachout.work Karen Lynch accepts Rapid IT’s donation of laptops for the charity.
Managing director of Reachout.work Karen Lynch accepts Rapid IT’s donation of laptops for the charity.

Already, some 160 donations have been received and last week, the first refurbished devices were ready to be delivered, to the delight of their recipients.

Mrs Emma Gardiner, headteacher at Chatburn Primary School, said: “We are delivering remote learning to our pupils through an online platform which relies on access to a suitable

device, and we don';t know how long this will have to continue.

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"We found that some of our children were having to work on iPads or mobile phones, or share devices with siblings or parents, who are also working from home. This generous donation from Rapid IT will make a huge difference to our families and we cannot thank them enough.”

Rapid IT’s Client Experience Director, Chris Stevenson donating laptops to headteacher at Chatburn C of E Primary School, Mrs Emma GardinerRapid IT’s Client Experience Director, Chris Stevenson donating laptops to headteacher at Chatburn C of E Primary School, Mrs Emma Gardiner
Rapid IT’s Client Experience Director, Chris Stevenson donating laptops to headteacher at Chatburn C of E Primary School, Mrs Emma Gardiner

Karen Lynch is managing director of Reachout, an independent early intervention service for young people aged 11-16. She said: “The families we support are already struggling with their education and being isolated at home. Being a CIC, Community Interest Company, we never have the funds available to buy IT equipment. Rapid IT has removed the stress of this for us and prepared the laptops all ready for us to deliver to our students.

“The children and young people from our service now have the IT to access their work, enabling better engagement, as they’re not having to use their phones. Some of these children and young people have missed so much school and rarely had the opportunity to use IT, so it’s giving them the tools and skills they need to support their future. We can't thank Rapid IT enough for their donation. It’s taken pressure away from us to find funding for laptops and enabled us to demonstrate how working together really benefits our communities.

“Large companies think nothing of buying the latest IT tech and scrapping the old. Rapid IT is bringing awareness to the fact that these items have a further need, and they are not just

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pieces of IT, they open doors to many things and remove barriers to learning. I hope that the Tech 4 All Kids campaign brings more awareness to other companies, so that it can help support many more families and communities while looking after our planet."

Jack Bannister, managing director of Rapid IT, said: “The reaction to our Tech 4 All Kids campaign to date has been incredible and we thank everyone who has made a donation so

far. The recipients are so happy when they get devices they know will make such a huge difference to the learning journeys of their children. But we still need more donations to be able to give more children access to the tech they need.”

If you have a computer, laptop or tablet you can donate to the campaign, please visit www.rapidit.co.uk/donate

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