Anderson Columbia Co. Inc. Helps with online education in Jamaica

     With the current coronavirus pandemic, the world has been forced into a remote way of life, causing ripples in even the simplest of routines. Perhaps one of the areas of life hit the hardest by the pandemic is education.  And education can already be difficult to come by if it is being sought after in a third-world country.
       Adrian Duncan, 31, is a concrete foreman with Anderson Columbia Co. Inc going on six years with the company and in his free time enjoys taking part in his nonprofit organization called Help the Kids Foundation, which he started six years ago.  His organization helps gets supplies such as fresh food and clean water into the hands of youth in Jamaica, where he is from, sending a supplies package there once a month.
         Realizing classroom education is becoming virtual because of the coronavirus, Duncan recently reached out to Joey Anderson III, CEO and President of Anderson Columbia Co. Inc, and asked if any available laptops and tablets could be donated to his organization to assist more kids in Jamaica who are continuing their schooling online.
        “When I asked the boss, he never hesitated, he only asked what I needed,” Duncan said.  “It’s great to work in a place that helps out in situations out there.”
        While the day-to-day operations of the infrastructure company revolve around the nitty-gritty of construction work and implementing roads and bridges to communities, it is great to give back in a different way, Anderson said.
         “Education is such a valuable tool that opens so many doors for today’s youth; being able to provide a learning opportunity for underprivileged kids in a third-world country is something I’m more than happy to be a part of,” he said.
         Sam Dillon, Information Technology Manager at the corporate headquarters of Anderson Columbia Co. Inc in Lake City, Florida, said two laptops and five Android tablets are being donated. With technology constantly changing, many applications the company now runs require newer software versions, he said. The laptops being donated are refreshed with Windows 10 and the tablets come with Android 5.1 software.
       The 2015 Hewlett Packer ProBooks and Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 tablets would have been used as gifts for the company Christmas party this year, but this is a much worthier cause, he said.  
         Duncan said he is hoping to secure a total of 20 tablets with four more laptops before shipping them off to Jamaica this December.
       “I’ll be sure to put stickers on the laptops, so they know where they came from,” he said.