BRADENTON – When Local Attorney, Carl Reynolds saw the struggle of transitioning to online school in his own home he thought about others on the Suncoast and decided to provide a helping hand, donating laptops to those in need…
Local Attorney, Carl Reynolds is a father of four, since the COVID-19 pandemic, his wife has been helping their children transition to online school…
“And I asked her how it went, and she told me how difficult it was struggling between two computers and with four children and everything and I thought there’s got to be a bunch of people out there who are struggling without even one computer or maybe just a cellphone,” said Personal Injury Lawyer, Carl Reynolds.
Reynolds decided to provide a helping hand…
“We put together a portal on our website where people could sign up for a laptop, and once we got the supply in we provided a voucher,” said Reynolds.
Reynolds says it was spread mostly through social media, initially 350 people submitted a form through the portal, as word spread another 80 signed up.
“To date, we’ve distributed 350, today is an additional… about 80,” said Reynolds.
Laptops were distributed drive-thru style, practicing social distancing and sanitizing between vehicles. Reynolds hopes he will be able to provide more
“The issue has been, the supply has not been adequate, and they’re in high demands as you might well imagine because everyone is doing schooling from home so that has been part of the issue,” said Reynolds.
Angela Daniels, the mother of a student who was a recipient of a laptop, heard about the initiative through social media
“I thought this is like perfect because we have three kids and now that it’s online school it’s like what are we going to do because we only have one computer basically, so when we found out about this, we thought why not give it a try, and it was perfect because it really helps out,” said Mother of Student, Angela Daniels.
Overall, Reynolds says he has been inspired by others that have given in the community
“Breweries have retooled their operations to provide hand sanitizer, food places are giving out free food to first responders and doctors so we don’t cook food here, I can’t retool anything to provide hand sanitizer but fortunately the folks in Sarasota and Manatee County have trusted our firm enough where I do have some resources so when I saw the problem in my own household we just figured let’s give out these laptops,” said Reynolds.
