by Chuck Seaver, South Lake Tablet
Comcast Business, a cyber-business solutions company, is up and coming in the south Lake community. They also provide outreach programs to area small businesses and not for profit organizations.
One such example of the company’s hospitality was exhibited on Thursday, May 8th at Yummis Frozen Yogurt Café, 650 Eighth Street in historic downtown Clermont. Comcast provided free frozen yogurt to everyone that visited the Café while Comcast also presented a donation to the Education Foundation of Lake County. The donation of $2,500.00 will help the Education Foundation kickoff its annual “Red for Ed” program that raises funds for school supplies.
The “Red for Ed” initiative aims to raise awareness about the critical need of our local students for the most basic items of school supplies. Over 62% of the Lake County School District’s student population lives at or below the poverty level. The Student Services Department reports that there are 1,946 homeless students throughout Lake County.
“It’s our goal that each student who is in need will start the new school year with the essential supplies to help them be successful. Teachers can focus on teaching and not worry about the things needed to teach,” says Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, Executive Director of the Education Foundation.
One such program that the foundation provides is “Apple-Mart”. Lake County teachers can shop for free at Apple-Mart for school supplies needed. The program provides the basics for all students in need, up to and including, backpacks for those who cannot purchase their own. The stores are currently located in Leesburg, Eustis and Mascotte and are open on Wednesday afternoons. “The stores were visited 900 times in total this school year by teachers seeking supplies for their students and classrooms. The total savings for teachers countywide was $138,000.00,” says Dr. Elizabeth Johnson.
Donations and sponsorship opportunities can be found at www.EdFoundationLake.com or by calling 352-326-1265.
Comcast Field Services Manager Jimmy Milton explains that the company strives to assist small businesses by sponsoring “business takeover” events that draw attention to businesses and increase their foot traffic. “We are here to not only provide a business solutions product to businesses, but we are here to provide exposure to those businesses as well,” says Milton.
Milton also states that fiberoptic cyber solutions are in progress in the Clermont area. New optic lines that are more reliable in typical Florida summer weather patterns are currently being installed along the major roadways in the Clermont area. As the system grows in demand, arteries from those lines will be installed in business and residential areas alike. “We are currently working with the City of Clermont to negotiate a means of installing the new fiberoptics in the historic downtown area without disturbing any of the recent roadway and landscape improvements made in the downtown area. We also want to provide area consumers with options for their online needs,” says Milton.
Plans offered, services availability and installation progress news can be found at www.Business.Comcast.Com.
