Sparklight (Cable One), said it has donated $300,000 to help in COVID-19 relief efforts across its 21-state footprint.
According to the company, it has donated $150,000 to the Meals on Wheels America COVID-19 Response Fund and $150,000 to local food banks in markets the company serves.
“Sparklight has set an example for others by helping us to ensure America’s vulnerable seniors will continue to receive the meals they desperately need amid this national crisis,” said Meals on Wheels America chief development officer Kristine Templin in a press release. “This generous donation will go a long way in providing certainty during these uncertain times, and I speak on behalf of the nationwide Meals on Wheels network in expressing our deep appreciation.”
Meals on Wheels America supports more than 5,000 community-based programs across the country that are dedicated to addressing senior isolation and hunger. This network serves virtually every community in America and, along with more than two million staff and volunteers, delivers the nutritious meals, friendly visits and safety checks that enable America’s seniors to live nourished lives with independence and dignity.
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“Meals on Wheels and local food banks are fulfilling the critical need of feeding at-risk community members who might otherwise go hungry due to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Cable One CEO Julie Laulis said in a press release. “We are proud to support their mission through donations that will help provide immediate aid to individuals who have been hit hardest during this unprecedented crisis.”
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Cable One has joined other cable operators in opening up its WiFi hotspots for public use during the pandemic. Company employees also are making masks for first responders, sending gift baskets and hot meals from local restaurants to hospitals and police and fire stations for first responders, and donating books to senior centers.
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Pay TV providers have donated and raised millions of dollars for COVID-19 relief, including Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts, whose family donated $5 million to buy laptops for Philadelphia schoolchildren and who along with other Comcast execs pledged his 2020 salary to COVID-19 causes. On March 17, Mediacom chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso started a Go Fund Me project to raise €500,000 for hospitals in Florence, Italy, the home of his soccer team, ACF Fiorentina and seeded the effort with €250,000 of his own money. To date the project has raised more than €800,000.
