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DeKalb Library Foundation fundraising to support hotspot initiative

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DeKalb Library Foundation fundraising to support hotspot initiative

Decatur Branch of the DeKalb County Public Library. Photo by Dean Hesse.
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DeKalb County, GA — The DeKalb Library Foundation’s annual Connect Your Community ends on Sept. 30. The foundation is about $20,000 away from reaching its goal of raising $50,000 to support the DeKalb County Public Library’s Take the Internet Home with You initiative.

The initiative offers 300 hotspot devices for library guests to check out and use in their homes. In a survey of the library’s hotspot users, over 60% of respondents reported they do not have internet at home and the hotspots provide an invaluable service, according to a press release.

This initiative allows a patron to check out a hotspot device, so they may access the internet in their home for 21 days.

“Hotspot devices are one of our most requested and needed items,” Library Director Alison Weissinger said.

DCPL’s hotspots give 4,000 people a year the opportunity to access a reliable high-speed internet connection from their homes.

“I cannot tell you how much of a help it has been to us. I used it to find a job. My fiancée is using it for school and my daughter is
learning sight words,” said Thearon, who has utilized the hotspot devices.

Joan, another hotspot user, added, “I am a senior. If I had to spend money on the internet, it means I’d have to take it from somewhere else, either the grocery bill or gas or somewhere else important.”

More information can be found online at dekalblibraryfoundation.org.

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