River of Life Foundation and Gardner Family Care Continue Their Free Laptop Program for South Bay Students
By Winnie Vong, River of Life President
San Jose, CA – Last month, a group of 37 students from Santa Clara County received brand new laptop computers and software at a ceremony at the River of Life Christian Church in Santa Clara, attended by more than 150 adults and children. The recipients were part of an annual “Free Laptop Computer” program sponsored by the River of Life Foundation and organized by Gardner Family Care. Over the last three years, these two Northern California charitable organizations have given more than 100 needy students free computers through the program.
“In the heart of Silicon Valley, there are still many children who do not have a computer or even access the Internet at home to do their homework,” said Winnie Vong, president of the River of Life Foundation, “which is why the River of Life Foundation started this program in 2013 to close the technology gap between privileged and underprivileged students in our area.”
Most of these children who received the computers come from large, single-parent or single-income families, many of whom are on social benefit programs.
“Without a computer at home, the alternative is often a trip to the public library to do their school work, and in many cases this is a struggle for their working parents,” said Tong Liu, senior pastor at River of Life Christian Church. “But with a computer at home, these students, and their siblings, can use the City of Santa Clara Free WiFi program, accessing the Internet to do their research,” Tong added.
Gardner Family Care, River of Life’s partner in the program, selects the students for the program.
“Being be able to use the laptop at home with the family is Christmas in July for many of these children,” Mike Danner said, program supervisor at Gardner Family Care. “Seeing the smiles makes it all worthwhile.”
“The laptop will allow me to search the Internet for my research projects and do better in school. I can also share it with my brother and sister, so they can do their homework too,” said one of the recipients.
About River of Life Foundation
River of Life Foundation (ROLF), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Silicon Valley, San Francisco Bay Area. ROLF provides multifaceted humanitarian services and charitable programs to improve the lives of those in need locally and globally. ROLF operates a food pantry program serving the south bay and other community services and events in the San Francisco Bay Area. ROFL engages in global services, including disaster relief in Asian countries as well as the operation of four orphanages in West African countries. Please visit theRiverFlows.org or call 408.567.0877.
About Gardner Family Care
Gardner Health Services is a 330 Federally Qualified Health Center funded by the Bureau of Primary Health Care. For nearly five decades, they have provided exceptional health care to people of all ages, backgrounds, and life circumstances. In 1967, community members, with help from the Stanford Medical School, created a small clinic to meet the urgent health needs of local farm workers in the Alviso, San Jose, community. Gardner has since expanded in response to community needs, now providing medical, dental, vision, counseling and substance abuse services to more than 55,000 Santa Clara County residents annually. Please visit GardnerFamilyHealth.org or call 408.938.2172.
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