WADESBORO — Pilgrim’s food company has committed to invest in Anson County Schools as part of the company’s Hometown Strong initiative.

The company announced on Aug. 26 a plan to invest $380,000 into Marshville and surrounding around to help off-set COVID-19 setbacks. Of that $380,000, $225,000 is coming into the school district.

“We created Hometown Strong because we are deeply rooted in our communities and we want to make meaningful, lasting contributions,” the company said. “Given the impacts of COVID-19, the school district was in need of digital learning solutions to ensure students have necessary resources.”

Superindentent Howard McLean knew immediately where the donation money should be spent. Connectivity.

“With COVID-19 going on, the first thoughts in my head were, ‘We need connectivity for our at risk youth and we need devices so they can do homework, etc,” McLean said. “My leadership team and I decided we needed hot spots and Chromebooks.”

After figuring out what the students in the district needed most, McLean went to the Pilgrim’s board and asked them to cover 300 of the 500 Chromebooks and hot spots the district needed.

But Pilgrim’s went above and beyond, offering to cover the cost of all 500 hot spots and Chromebooks. Plus the company is also paying for 10 months of connectivity for each of those households who are receiving the donated laptops.

McLean will be cross checking three different lists in order to determine who will be receiving the hot spots and laptops. The state provides a deprivation list of at risk students, which he will use and reference as he checks the list of parents who filled out a survey saying they are in need, along with Pilgrim’s list of about 200 employees. The company also asked to make sure those employees who are in need and fit the criteria receive a Chromebook.

If a name of a student is seen on two of the lists, he or she will be put on the list of 500 who will be receiving these donations.

There are about 1,600 families in the district on the state’s deprivation list. This donation from Pilgrim’s will aid in connecting the first 500 families to virtual learning, while the district continues to look for funds in serving the rest of the families in need.

“We are trying to reach every family in our district,” McLean said. “We are trying to reach the ones who have devices and connectivity. We are going to reach the ones who don’t have connectivity with these hot spots. We are trying to reach every family and their needs in Anson County. Are we successful yet, no, but we are heading in that direction.”

The 500 hot spots and laptops have been ordered, and are expected to come in the next 10 days, but the laptops will take between six and eight weeks.

But without causing panic while waiting for those laptops, the district has been providing households with Google hard drives. The hard drives give students all the homework and material they will need, without having to rely on a computer and connectivity.

McLean has been in the district for 34 years and does not remember ever seeing a donation of this size.