Sparklight® Awards $3,500 Grant to Kirksville Nonprofit, Take Root

Take Root

Sparklight®, a member of the Cable One family of brands, recently awarded a $3,500 grant to Take Root through the company’s Charitable Giving Fund, which launched in January 2021. Through this program, the company awarded more than $100,000 in grants earlier this summer to 30 nonprofit organizations across its 24-state footprint.

Take Root, which strives to alleviate hunger and promote health by offering nourishing, high-quality, local food on a pay-what-you-can basis, received a grant from Sparklight to expand its Community Dinner Program, which provides balanced, nutritious meals to anyone in the community free of charge.

“As we seek to address the issue of hunger in our community, we are committed to doing so in a manner that works to unite rather than exacerbate the divisions caused by poverty and food insecurity. We do not want to create a two-tier food system, one that serves good food to the ‘haves’ while filling the bellies of the ‘have-nots’ with empty calories,” said William Robb, Take Root Executive Director. “We seek to address the root causes of food insecurity by building a food system that feeds all. With this grant we can support the backbone of rural economies – our farmers – while providing 60-80 locally sourced, nutritious meals per dinner at no cost to families in need.”

The Charitable Giving Fund, which will annually award $200,000 in grants to local 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations served by Sparklight and the other Cable One family of brands (Fidelity Communications, Clearwave®, ValuNet Fiber and Hargray), concentrates support in the following priority areas:

  • Education and Digital Literacy
  • Food Insecurity
  • Community Development

Nonprofit organizations will have the opportunity to apply for a grant during open application periods each spring and fall. Applications for fall 2021 grants will open between October 1 – 31, 2021.

“Through our support of these nonprofit organizations, we are helping to build strong and vibrant communities, improve quality of life, and make a positive difference in the communities where we live and work,” said Julie Laulis, Cable One President and CEO.

The Charitable Giving Fund is an extension of the company’s existing corporate social responsibility efforts, which include:

  • Chromebooks for Kids, an initiative in which the company donates Chromebooks to Title I schools across its footprint. To date the company has donated more than 1,500 Chromebooks to help bridge the digital divide in schools that lack funding.
  • Partnering with EmbraceRace, a national organization dedicated to creating tools, resources, and networks to promote a movement of child and adult racial justice advocates.
  • Supporting the mission of Special Olympics Arizona, which provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports, as well as health, arts, and leadership and advocacy programs for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.  
  • Planting trees through the Arbor Day Foundation on behalf of customers who switch to paperless billing. By the end of 2021, the company will have planted 110,000 trees in its markets and national forests.
  • Supporting the mission of Keep America Beautiful in cleaning up and beautifying communities across the U.S.  

For more information about Sparklight’s Charitable Giving Fund, visit www.sparklight.com/charitablegiving.