The J. L. Crowe Class of ‘68 has stepped up to help out their alma mater and provide funding for state-of-the-art technology.
High school counsellor Loretta Jones began a quest in May to raise money to purchase 100 Chromebook laptops for Grade 8-12 students whose families face financial challenges.
Related read: Counsellor aims to supply 100 Chromebooks
Norman Moll, a graduate of the J.L. Crowe Class of ‘68, decided it was something that their class needed to support.
“We just posted on Monday to our people in the class and we’ve already had quite a few people make donations, so it seems to be going alright,” said Moll. “Hopefully we can get other classes involved.”
The Chromebook device provides access to Google Classroom, a free web service developed by Google for schools. The aim is to simplify the creation, distribution, and grading of assignments. The need for the devices became even more acute with the onset of the pandemic, which closed schools and forced students and parents to try to complete the year via online instruction.
Related read: Skool Aid supplies 40 high school kids with Chromebooks
Jones has received generous donations from several local community groups and individuals, and more recently welcomed another half dozen (and counting) donations from ‘68 classmates.
“I am so thankful and heartened by their generosity,” said Jones. “It just give me this feeling of warmth about our community and these past grad classes, that we care and want to look after people. I don’t believe this would happen anywhere else.”
Moll says he found out about Jones’ effort through the Times’ articles and donations to schools from the Murphy Family Foundation.
Moll helped organize the 50th grad reunion for the Class of ‘68 in Trail with almost 100 former graduates attending. He maintains and stays connected through the Class of ‘68 website and social media pages.
“I took it on as part of the organization of the reunion, I was working as registration and finance (person). We have a website, a Facebook group, a Twitter account, and an email list.”
So far the Class of ‘68 is about half way to its goal of providing funds for at least three Chromebooks, urging classmates to donate up to $50 for the project, and challenging other classes to step up as well.
“I want to push the fact that we started this and are challenging other grad classes to get involved and try to meet us and beat us,” added Moll.
When the goal is reached, additional donations will go towards next year’s financial needs fund for new students.
Donations can be made to the Chromebooks Fund at J.L. Crowe Secondary School.
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