‘Make a change’ initiative to support school children launched
In a weekend just as children prepare for their return to school, albeit it will be online whilst the lockdown in Gibraltar continues, members of the rugby team Rock Scorpions have launched an initiative to assist home learning.
Under the banner “make a change” the club has formed the Scorpions Rugby Collective Network, an initiative asking people to donate their old working laptops.
Inspired by Alexa Tilbury-Chang, Harvey Leroy and Preston Feeke currently participating in The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Gibraltar the club is now calling on the public to donate their unwanted laptops to help children who haven’t got the resources to follow the curriculum online.
“COVID-19 restrictions have meant that our children and young people are needing to learn from home and rely on online communication and platforms. The reality is that not every child in Gibraltar has a device to access the internet for online learning offered by their schools,” announced the club online.
“Newton Store has kindly agreed to ensure the laptops will be in good working order and with the help of the Open Award Centre, Rock Wallaby and the Commissioner for Sustainability Development and Future Generations we will distribute them to those in need. The collective believes this work is vital to many young people who will now be able to stay connected and continue their education during lockdown.”
Kim Chang, spokesperson for Scorpions Rugby Club told the Chronicle, ‘Alexa, Harvey and Preston were inspired by a BBC news story on how an organisation was donating laptops to families that weren’t fortunate enough to own a laptop or computer. This meant children weren’t able to participate in online school classes. So after a few messages and phone calls we initiated the Scorpions Collective Network.”
The initiative is also being supported by other sports clubs including Europa FC who joined supporting the initiative this weekend.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Our reporters are working round-the-clock to bring you the latest news on Gibraltar and the Covid-19 crisis. All our coverage on this critical issue is available free outside the paywall. If you find it useful, please help us reach more people by sharing our journalism. And if you want to support our work further, please consider subscribing to the digital version of our daily newspaper and all our premium online content. You can subscribe via our website or for iOS devices via the iTunes store. Thank you.