Over the past year, Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Minnesota has received a number of donations of Getac Windows tablets from Blattner Company, totaling 39 in all, to support technology programs and services at 18 Boys & Girls Club and KIDSTOP locations.
Currently, these high-quality tablets are supporting distance learning for youth at Boys & Girls Club’s Emergency Services Childcare sites in the St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids-Rice and Sartell-St. Stephen school districts.
“These tablets have been extremely helpful to us, throughout the year, but especially in the last couple of weeks that we’ve been helping kids get their school work done,” said Geri Bechtold, Director of Operations for the Boys & Girls Club. “Many families only have one device for siblings to share, and right now for health and safety purposes, as well as to handle the quantity of work that needs to be done electronically, every kid needs their own device. Blattner’s support couldn’t have come at a better time for our kids!”
The tablets have been an important addition to Boys & Girls Club’s normal programming, before COVID-19, too. Last spring, nearly every registered member ages 9 and up used these devices to participate in Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s National Youth Outcomes Initiative survey. This is a very comprehensive survey that requires a Windows operating system for successful completion. The donation from Blattner made it possible for smooth participation in this national data collection effort.
The tablets also augment to Boys & Girls Club’s technology program delivery. Our youth can use the tablets with staff support to access various online tools for CareerSTART, including http://moneymattersmakeitcount.com/ and https://myfuture.net/.
“We are so grateful for Blattner Company’s partnership and support of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Minnesota through this incredible technology donation,” said Mary Swingle, Boys & Girls Club’s President/CEO. “With Blattner’s help, we can ensure that our community’s youth has access to current equipment and technology, which will open doors careers that we haven’t even yet imagined.”
For more information on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Minnesota, please visit our website: www.bgcmn.org .