BEDFORD—On Monday, July 22nd, AT&T held an event at the StoneGate Arts and Education Center to announce their donation of 100 laptops to the Lawrence County Economic Growth Council and the construction of one of the four projects that seek to build on and expand AT&T fiber internet across Lawrence County.
The event was led by the President of AT&T, Bill Soards, who gave remarks about the laptops being donated. When speaking about the laptops being donated, Soards said, “The laptops that you see here will open new doors of opportunity. They will allow students and families to complete homework, search for jobs, talk to doctors online, connect with families and resources, and most importantly, begin to advance and thrive in our ever-increasing digital age.”
The computers and backpacks will be donated to the Lawrence County Economic Growth Council, which will distribute them to businesses and institutions that can get them into the hands of people who need them.
A laptop was given to Sara Clardy, who was chosen because she needed one. She shared with WBIW how this will impact her: “This is really gonna help me find a job, and not just a job, hopefully a career in something I enjoy doing. You can’t apply for anything anymore without a laptop and without the internet. So this is really gonna help me move forward in my career and in life, hopefully.”
Senator Eric Koch and Commissioner Rodney Fish also spoke. Koch thanked local leaders like the Commissioners for taking charge of this. “As the co-author of legislation that created Indiana’s broadband grant program, I’m pleased it’s being put to use to connect Hoosiers in Lawrence County,” said State Senator Eric Koch. “We’re so appreciative of AT&T’s efforts to not only bring high-speed broadband to Lawrence County but to also provide laptops to families who don’t have their own devices at home to access the internet,” said Lawrence County Commissioner Rodney Fish. “In today’s digital world, fast connectivity is crucial to all aspects of daily life. AT&T has been a great provider to work with, and we’re excited that construction has begun to bring AT&T Fiber to our communities.”
WBIW spoke to President Bill Soards for more information on the announcements. His thoughts were quite illuminating. “We made two significant announcements in Lawrence County today, the first of which is kind of an update. Our fiber projects have begun. So we’re going to be building AT&T fiber for the next two years, to over 5000 homes and businesses in the Northern and Western portions of Lawrence County and there’s also a portion between Bedford and Mitchell. One of these grants that we’ve won is from the State of Indiana. The other three are funded by your Lawrence County Commissioners but the work has begun. We’ve already passed about 300 homes in the county so far, it’ll probably be a couple hundred every month for the next two years, so we’ll endeavor to come back down and give public updates but you can expect that all about 3000 will be done within the next two years.”
