Dear Family and Friends,
I am the mother of 2,500 children.
We need your help.
As you know, I’ve been the Executive Director at the Action Center for the last five years. During that time we have helped over 33,000 families and 2,500 children to better their lives. During that time my staff and I have become acutely aware that if we didn’t have our programs for the children between 3-6pm, they would literally die. Case in point; Six teens who were not our students, were gunned down in the Rockaway streets during that critical time period just last fall.
These children need a safe place to go. The Action Center has been providing it to them since 2001. Over 2,500 children have come to us every day after school to participate in programs that include music and dance, arts and crafts, computer literacy, school tutoring, cooking, and athletic, all of it free of charge. We have also provided a free and nutritious meal and transportation to and from the program for all the children. There are even college scholarships available to our participating high school seniors. And their parents have come, too, to learn about parenting skills, job placement, cooking classes and stress management.
Between 60-90% of the Action Center students have been evaluated to have better school attendance rates; and/or between 80-96% are less likely to be suspended from school, none have become pregnant, or gotten into trouble due to drugs and alcohol. We understand that we might not see in our life time the true impact or difference we have made.
But we are confident that some child somewhere will make
a decision to not rob, beat or murder someone because we were there to help him or her when they were young. Maybe the grandson of one of our students had a
chance because their grandparents learned from us. Maybe that child would
be the one to cure AIDS, or negotiate peace in the Middle East or give their
life for our president. We might never know which act of ours saved the
world, we just have to have faith that our well intentioned gestures will/or have
had an impact.. leading us to that end.
Because any
child, even in Far Rockaway in Queens, can grow into an adult who can make a
difference in the world, even if only to their own children, who will then have
their own chance to make a contribution. An investment in these children
today is an investment in the future of our nation and our society.
Research shows that an investment of $1 begets returns of $10.52 to society over
40 years.
I am asking you to help us in our
efforts:
Two critical events are happening at the Action Center. Due to massive governmental budget cuts funds for thousands of afterschool programs have been cut. The cuts eliminate 600 Action Center student slots. The cuts also come at a time when the Action Center is going national bringing our program to hundreds of children in GA, PA, TX, Fla, NJ, Ala and Maryland. We are asking you to help us in our efforts to offset the cuts.
For as little as $25, you can help buy enough art supplies to keep two children busy after school all year long. For $50 you can help four students do the same, as well as buy books and musical instruments. For $75 you’ll fund half of an entire class in a variety of artistic and physical activities. For only $100, you can fund a full class of 15 participants, including helping to send them on field trips that would otherwise never be possible for them to experience.It is such a small investment with such significant stakes.
It’s good to help save a life when you can. It’s also good to change a life, and that’s what I’m asking you to help the Action Center to do. Help us protect and change these young lives, and that of their families.
Please pass this along to those you know and ask them to help save a life as well.
Together we can do this….
