More than a year ago, Toronto real estate broker Ara Mamourian took responsibility for making sure students at a Regent Park elementary and middle school had the materials they needed to learn remotely by purchasing dozens of computers.
This week, he was called upon to do it again. In just over 24 hours, Mamourian managed to solicit $ 26,000 in donations from his network through social media posts on Tuesday.
With the money, he ordered 60 refurbished Chromebook laptops for students at Nelson Mandela Park Public School in Regent Park and is about to order 200 more for children at Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy, a Thorncliffe Park kindergarten.
So many students, and people in general, do not have their own computers, Mamourian said, he is now in the process of establishing a nonprofit to address technological inequality.
While the Toronto District School Board has enough devices for all of its students, the computers loaned to them by the board must be returned once face-to-face classes resume, a spokesperson told the Star. switch online, not every student who needs a laptop has gotten one yet.
That’s where Mamourian comes in. He has been able to get laptops into the hands of some students faster than the board of trustees, plus the families who receive the computers keep them forever.
When online learning began in 2020, Rachel DiSaia, a mother and president of the Nelson Mandela Park school board, approached Mamourian for help, knowing that she had always been willing to help those in need. There were “a number of unfulfilled device requests” at the school, DiSaia told him, meaning children would not have laptops to learn.
“It immediately broke my heart,” Mamourian said. “I thought it was crazy that some kids didn’t have something as simple as a device that we have 10 of at my house. I just started donating directly. I don’t have a charity; He was not receiving any kind of charity receipt. Silently I continued to do that. “
Mamourian donated dozens of laptops to students throughout the year. These gifts helped a lot, DiSaia told the Star. But when remote learning returned this week, so did the problem: Since then, new students had joined the school, and 60 of them needed laptops.
“Two days ago, Rachel (DiSaia) said that the device situation was a problem again, and now it seemed to be an even bigger problem,” Mamourian said. “I put it on my Instagram story. I said, ‘We need 60 devices ASAP, it’s $ 6,000.’ I’ve been doing this myself for a year or so, I could really use a little help this round. ‘
Toronto stockbroker Ken McLachlan responded immediately and offered to pay the entire $ 6,000 himself.
“I said, ‘Well, it’s not even 7am yet, let’s see what else we can do here,’” Mamourian said, knowing that Nelson Mandela Park might not be the only school in need.
“I kept pushing him, I put him on Facebook, LinkedIn. Suddenly my email inbox is full of money transfers, from as low as $ 100 to $ 2,000. Now we have a little over $ 26,000, which is mind-boggling. ”
Mamourian wasn’t just receiving donations, he was also receiving information: people were telling him which schools and families needed the most help. This is how he discovered that 200 Fraser Mustard kindergarteners needed laptops.
Everyone will soon be getting them, thanks to the money Mamourian raised.
While Mamourian’s efforts are praised by parents and community members, they are a reminder of the gulf in access to educational needs among some families and schools – requests for laptops are not coming from Leaside schools, for example. Mamourian said.
“I’m actually super mad that people have to do this kind of thing,” Mamourian said. “Sucks that it has to be done. In 2022, technology is on the same level as housing. It is not a luxury. This world will be completely bypassed if you don’t have access to a device to connect. “
The TDSB has never contacted Mamourian, he said, despite his donations over the past year and recent fundraising. But he is not interested in working together with them or with any specific school, but rather operates outside the system to provide a permanent solution to the lack of computer access.
“I would love if this could be fixed on a systemic level,” DiSaia said. “Because there is inequity, there are some schools where each child was given a device at the beginning of the year, no questions asked, but that is not what happened in our school.”
TDSB spokesman Ryan Bird said that while not all students have received a device yet, there are enough for everyone, and those in need will eventually receive it.
“As you can imagine, when we were told Monday that we are orienting Canada’s largest school system towards remote learning, it takes some time to get those devices out,” Bird said.
Meanwhile, Bird said teachers will reach out to families of deviceless students to provide asynchronous work until they get laptops. And while donations are always welcome, he said, when it comes to remote learning, “we don’t need any additional devices because we have enough in the TDSB.”
“If families in general need laptops, whether it’s for distance learning or something else, I’m sure they will be welcome,” Bird said. “But I want to make sure our parents know, our community knows that we have made substantial investments in it – more than 140,000 devices purchased in the last two years.”
Reference-www.thestar.com