When the COVID-19 crisis forced schools to go from classroom to online instruction, a homeless college student discovered that a working portable car power charger made all the difference between staying in school or dropping out.
A De Anza College student living out of her car used her laptop to take classes online. She relied on a power inverter in her car to keep her laptop running. When her inverter broke, she was afraid that lack of access to classes would force her to drop out of school.
The student reached out for help. Enter Hope’s Corner of Mountain View, a nonprofit organization that serves the local area’s homeless. Hope’s Corner president Leslie Carmichael responded to the student’s pleas by contacting a board member. The board member reached out to Jackery Inc., a manufacturer of portable power chargers. Julie Wang, chief operating officer of the Fremont-based company, donated 90 power adapters for laptops and cars, delivered to Hope’s Corner April 4. Jackery later donated another 140 power chargers for laptops and 1,400 power chargers for cellphones.
Hot lunches
Hope’s Corner, located at Hope and Mercy streets in Mountain View, has expanded its meals program. In addition to a Saturday hot breakfast service, which is now served to-go rather than as a sit-down meal, the organization began distributing to-go lunches on Wednesdays, beginning April 8.
For more information, visit hopes-corner.org.
