May 24, 2004 – A St. Croix financial services firm, NASCO Corporate Finance Consultants, has announced that it will donate 25 personal computers to a local not-for-profit agency.
It is not certain yet where the computers will be going, but NASCO's managing partner, Robert Whitner, said in a release that the company is partnering with the One Church One Family organization in placing them with an appropriate organization such as an after-school program of learning center.
Whitner also said the company will make similar donations annually. "These computers will have been in use in the donor's business and are being replaced each year to better meet the computing needs of the firm," he said.
NASCO is one of about a hundred V.I. companies benefitting from certification by the Economic Development Commission. In exchange for locating a business in the territory and meeting other criteria intended to stimulate the local economy, partners and investors in EDC companies receive reductions of up to 90 percent in business and personal taxes, exemption from property and excise taxes, and a steep reduction in gross receipts and customs taxes, according the EDC Web site.
Given their tax breaks, EDC companies typically offer to write a certain amount of charitable giving into their contracts, according to Nadine Marchena, assistant chief executive officer for the Economic Development Authority, which administers the program.
EDC firms employ some 5,000 people in the territory and make charitable contributions of more than $2.6 million a year, Marchena said.
Dave Rivers, One Church One Family regional vice president, will be responsible for getting the computers to their new homes. He said Whitner recently "called me up and told me he had some computers to give away and wanted to know if I could help."
Rivers has been doing grass-roots community development work in the territory for three years, the last two with One Church One Family. He said he's always happy when an EDC company gets involved. "It's nice to see NASCO stepping up to the plate," he said.
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