Editor, Gazette-Journal:

A time has come when we need to support our community. When our children began school, they needed access to broadband to learn, achieve, grow and succeed. As many of you know, that is not possible in parts of our county. I am reaching out to you to ask what you can do to help.

Our 32 churches are in every nook of Mathews and many have historically offered after-school help to school-age children. Most of them have broadband access. I would like to ask the churches to consider the availability of your parking lot, if your broadband reaches the parking lot and your willingness to allow others to use your broadband service without cost until the pandemic ends.

Many businesses have high-speed broadband access. Do you have a parking lot and does your broadband reach your parking lot? If so, would you be willing to allow the public to use it without cost?

The Broadband Advisory Board would like to advertise locations where our students and any others wh...