RTSV and NetApp Build Desks for Children of Essential Workers
Students at the Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley needed a place to learn at home.
The world looks a bit different now as vaccinations have become easier to schedule and mask mandates are changing. We’re moving in the right direction to a more positive place than we all were not even a year ago and when we look back at how far we’ve come, it becomes clear that our community is not afraid of challenges and stepping up to help support the people who need it most.
In November of 2020, Covid-19 cases rose from 400 positive cases daily to 1,967 cases a day on average by the end of the month, just in the Bay Area alone (ABC 7 News). People were encouraged to stay at home and schools were continuing remote learning with no plans to change through the holiday season. School districts ensured that students had adequate internet access and computers to work from, but there was no focus on making sure that students had a designated space to complete their assignments.
As schools remained closed to in-person instruction, NetApp, a data services company based in Sunnyvale, sponsored a Team Build to assemble desks to aid in remote learning. Over the course of 3 days, the NetApp team volunteered their time to build 31 desks outside of the RTSV warehouse to ensure proper social distancing. These desks were built for the students of the Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley, many of whom belonged to families of essential and frontline workers.
Volunteers created a socially distanced assembly line by safely measuring, cutting, drilling, and staining the desks, complete with proper mask usage and sanitization of materials and surfaces between each stage. This was also the first time that the volunteers from NetApp had seen each other face to face since the start of the shelter in place order in March of 2020.
When RTSV dropped off the desks at the Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley, we were greeted warmly. Each of the students also presented heartfelt, handwritten thank you notes. One of the students wrote, “We love you! Thank you!, For building my Brand NEW Desk! I appreciate it!, You are the best…” accompanied with drawings of hearts and smiley faces.
Our mission, repairing homes, revitalizing communities, rebuilding lives. is clear in all the work that we do from critical repairs for qualifying homeowners to nonprofit facility repairs and support, just as we did with The Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley. When we help nonprofits maintain their facilities, they can spend more time carrying out their missions. If you are part of a nonprofit organization that could use our help, download and begin filling out our application, get in touch with us by emailing , or drop by our office at 1701 South 7th Street #10 San Jose CA, 95112.
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