Donation Provides Digital Equality to Students Learning Remotely During COVID-19

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) has been committed to providing relief to our patients, employees, partners, and the communities we serve.

When schools transitioned to virtual learning, families across the country struggled to adapt to this abrupt change. Keeping children focused on school while balancing work and other obligations was challenging on its own, but for families without access to technology, remote learning was nearly impossible.

According to the Minnesota Department of Education, roughly 25,000 students in Minnesota did not have access to a computer at the start of the 2020-2021 school year. Without a computer, even students who had previously excelled in school began to fall behind and become disengaged.

In an effort to help promote digital equity to students learning from home, FMCNA donated more than 200 new and gently used laptops to the non-profit organization Minnesota Computers for Schools (MCFS), whose mission is to provide technology solutions and skills training to individuals in need.

We coordinated with our technology partner, National Communications Services Inc., to repurpose our gently used devices and get them into the hands of Minnesota students. We also reached out to our partners at Dell, who helped secure 25 new laptops, reducing the number of students on the MCFS waiting list. In total, this donation aided 185 students and 35 schools across the state of Minnesota.

In addition to helping students in need and contributing to the future of our country’s workforce, the MCFS donation will extend the life of each laptop provided, keeping hardware out of landfills and protecting our environment.

As the leading provider of products and services to individuals with renal disease, we feel we have a responsibility to positively impact our society during these challenging times. Over the past year, we’ve created or updated more than a dozen programs to support employees and improve the wellbeing of the regions we serve. From developing educational programs for children learning at home to forging new partnerships with innovative and impactful organizations, to expanding our hardship assistance fund, we’ve shown we care deeply for each other and our communities.

To learn more about our community relations efforts, visit our Corporate Social Responsibility page.