GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - A non-profit called the Figgers Foundation is working to bring connectivity to rural counties in the state with their Florida Connect campaign.

This new initiative is for eligible Floridians to receive free devices and three years of internet service with 4G LTE cell service.

As families look for support and connection during the holiday season, residents in 18 Florida counties overall can apply for a free device through Florida Connect, which is a device loaner program by the Figgers Foundation, created to bridge the digital divide in underserved Florida communities at no cost to residents.

“We focus primarily on the rural areas where the larger carriers are not interested in coming into a population of 500 to invest millions of dollars of infrastructure, when you think about the rural counties they’re the ones who are left behind,” Freddie Figgers, founder of Figgers Foundation, said.

 The eligible counties in our area include Lafayette, Dixie, Gilchrist, Levy, Putnam, Bradford, and Union counties.

“with this initiative that we’re doing, these devices are going to go to families in need so every child will have a device and so will every senior citizen.”

The devices will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

“Right now we’re focused on the digital divide and if you look at artificial intelligence and how rapidly its moving our children are going to get left behind if they don’t learn some of the systematic coding...” Figgers said. “So we really want to make a difference.”