It is with extreme gratitude that we acknowledge the recent contribution of the VanLandingham Rotary Club and its volunteers who manned the phones for a Feb. 24 auction. Thanks also to Sonny Dixon of WTOC News.

The auction was an outstanding success and benefited Neighborhood Outreach Connection immensely. Receiving a generous grant of $75,000 has enabled us to establish a virtual learning center with modern computer technology, providing participants access to Internet learning tools.

At present, 53 percent of Beaufort County School District is made up of minority children. Neighborhood Outreach Connection bridges a gap for students who have access to technology in the classroom, but who might not have that same opportunity at home because family funds are used to cover immediate necessities. NOC is a safety net in providing not only adult supervision and tutoring, but also the computer equipment necessary for completing homework assignments and extra time with numerous other technologies that many of us take for granted in our daily lives. NOC gives these children the chance to improve their technological skills, providing them with a broader outlook for their future and helping them to become healthy, educated members of our society with unlimited possibilities.

Thank you to the VanLandingham Rotary Club for providing not only the tangible monetary assets so necessary to help us succeed, but also the spiritual support that is so important to the many hands who volunteer in making NOC a continued success.

Narendra P. Sharma chairman Neighborhood Outreach Connection Hilton Head Island/Bluffton