Comcast donates $45,000 to Córazon Healdsburg, laptops to local youth

Families from across northern Sonoma County arrived Wednesday in two black buses to Healdsburg’s Costeaux French Bakery for a catered dinner ahead of what they thought would just be a free movie screening.

But, according to the event’s organizers, what followed was more than any of them expected — free laptops were given to the children to help them bridge potential digital divides.

“It was a surprise. A magnificent surprise,” said Teodora Gómez, of Cloverdale, whose grandson, Jovany Soto, 8, was one of the recipients of the 100 laptops that were given away.

The event also celebrated a partnership between local nonprofit Corazón Healdsburg, which provides family empowerment and support in northern Sonoma County, and the telecommunications company Comcast, which also gave a $45,000 grant to the nonprofit.

The donation came via Comcast’s Project Up program, which intends to donate $1 billion to advance digital equity, said Aaron Walker, vice president of field operations at Comcast California.

“The world is moving to digital. You can't do anything if you don't have at least those basic necessities,” Walker said.

As governments, housing applications, job applications and other “important life services” increasingly move into a digital realm, it underscores how much harder it is to access them when a family doesn’t have a computer, internet or possess any digital training — the so-called digital divide.

Many people who walk through Corazón Healdsburg’s doors seeking assistance with those services don’t have computers or internet access, said Holly Fox, Corazón Healdsburg’s communications manager.

“The first time somebody uses a computer shouldn’t be when they fill out an affordable housing application,” Fox said, which is a rather common occurrence, she added.

The Comcast grant will pay for a new computer lab, said Cristal López Pardo, family resource manager at Corazón Healdsburg.

“We’ll have six (computer) stations ... for families in northern Sonoma County to come in and do their homework, print, work on resumés. We’re hoping to host some workshops for families to learn the basics of using a computer,” López Pardo said.

The roughly 90 guests who attended Wednesday evening’s festivities have participated in programs through Corazón Healdsburg’s family resource center, López Pardo said. It offers family-centered support such as gift cards, application assistance and other resources.

Elias López Ortiz, who works as a vineyard farmworker, said this year has been especially difficult financially for his family. He attended the event with his wife, Olga Lidia Ayala Rico, of Healdsburg, and their three children.

“The simple truth is that they have treated us very well ... They helped me tremendously with filling out applications for apartments, getting to a food pantry. They, Corazón, have helped me a lot,” he said, moments after guests learned the young people would receive free laptops.

The money that would otherwise be spent on a laptop or a similar device is now money saved, he added.

There were audible gasps from children after the announcement was made by Walker in English and the murmur grew as parents, mostly Spanish-speakers, learned about the news in Spanish from Marcy Flores, executive director of Corazón Healdsburg.

Standing nearby were Healdsburg Mayor Ariel Kelley, who is a board member of Corazón Healdsburg, and county Supervisor James Gore, whose brother Tom Gore, also serves as a board member for the nonprofit.

Manuela López of Healdsburg was happy and thankful she was invited to this dinner event.

“My children don’t have tablets,” López said, who smiled when asked about how she felt knowing her two children would go home with laptops that evening.

She said she stopped working nine years ago when she became a mom, and hasn’t been able to return to work because her youngest, who receives behavioral therapy, requires extra attention.

These will be the family’s first digital devices of any kind, she said.

“We are very excited to receive these.”

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or jennifer.sawhney@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @sawhney_media.