The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is aiming to donate more than 600 laptops to school and university students who were impacted by the devastating floods earlier this year.
Catastrophic floods destroyed homes and decimated businesses and community buildings in many parts of Australia. One of the hardest hit areas, Lismore, has seen its many universities and schools devastated by flood waters, leaving students without access to laptops and other technological devices they need in order to complete their core coursework.
To provide some immediate assistance to flood-impacted students, CBA’s end-user experience (EUX) team, headed by general manager, Julian Doyle, reformatted, rebuilt, and donated 250 laptops for the Southern Cross University, 275 laptops for the Evans River School, and 160 laptops for Lismore South Public School.
“This is such a great example of our people living our values and working together to build a brighter future for all,” Doyle said. “We know many Australians have lost everything as a result of the recent floods, and hopefully the donation of 600-plus laptops goes some small way to helping a few of those Aussies who have been impacted to rebuild and recover.”
Tyrone Carlin, Southern Cross University’s Vice Chancellor, thanked Doyle for the laptop donation and said the initiative had provided those students who had lost everything in the floods with “the essential tool for connectivity to daily life and their academic studies.”
In addition to the laptop donation, CBA rolled out the Flood Relief Fund in March to help community organisations access grants of up to $10,000 to assist them with their clean-up and recovery efforts in the wake of the east coast floods. The bank also delivered $2 million in CanGive donations and matched CBA contributions to support the immediate recovery efforts in flood-affected communities.
