For Sharon Gray-Rush, securing a laptop was a game-changer, especially during the pandemic:
Her background in data entry meant that she had basic computer skills, but she didn’t own a computer. She spent a lot of time on her phone trying to make online transactions but with the phone screen being too small and often glitching, she would get frustrated, and her youngest daughter would have to step in and help Gray-Rush pay her bills.
Then Gray-Rush learned about UPO from a friend who had participated in the CARES Laptop Distribution program. She jumped at the chance to finally get her own computer — she called UPO, explained what she needed, and received a new laptop.
“It’s been a blessing,” she says. Now she not only pays bills and does her banking online, but she also uses it to purchase groceries and have them delivered to her home. It’s not only convenient: It also saves her from going to the store, carrying bags by herself, and activating her arthritis. And she loves that her laptop is not too big — she can take it with her throughout the house and can set it anywhere.
Gray-Rush says that she takes a while to navigate through the different websites and make her transactions, but she is content. She knows that the only way to get faster and more comfortable with the laptop is by asking for help, then practicing on her own.
She sympathizes with many people in her community who don’t have reliable access to the internet. She says this is so important because “everything is online now.”
