The pandemic necessarily saw many of our colleagues working remotely, requiring robust access to virtual platforms on a more regular basis, and we therefore needed to upgrade and replace our company laptops.
Consequently we had around 25 of our previous Lenovo laptops available which were both physically cleaned and data-cleansed. Although not high spec gaming machines they were ideal for anyone with children needing to learn/study at home, so we made them available to Smile Together colleagues with children who needed a laptop for education or who were perhaps sharing devices and would benefit from an additional resource.
Smile Together was happy to donate these items in return for a donation to our Charity of the Year Penhaligon’s Friends of whatever colleagues could afford. Any remaining laptops were then made available to other Smile Together colleagues with a minimum donation of £100 to the charity – we simply prioritised them for children first.
All were successfully allocated and our laptops for children programme saw our fundraising for Penhaligon’s Friends rise to almost £1,400 for the year and the charity was absolutely thrilled.
In a thank you letter of July 2021, Chief Executive Officer Julie Parker said: “Your year of fundraising along with donations from your laptop programme has raised a fantastic £1374.75 which will fund a family fun day for some of the bereaved families we support. Last year we supported 560 bereaved children and young people across Cornwall and are incredibly grateful for kindness such as yours. Thank you for supporting Penhaligon’s Friends”.