Hi Mighty Facebook friends, We at MW have a promise to keep. And to keep that promise, we need to ask for your support. I know. Never fun. Were writers, journalists and educators; trust us, we know how tough it is out there. But we cant reach more kids without your dollars. Whats happening to our schools is tragic. You think it cant get worse, and then it does. It makes our mission all the more urgent. Our promise, made when we launched Mighty Writers in 2009, was to reach more Philadelphia kids with the power of writing every year. And thats what weve done. We started with 40 neighborhood kids five years ago, and were now reaching 2,000 kids a year through all our many programs. But the school crisis demands that we step it up. We want to reach more kids in West Philadelphia; bring our Saturday afternoon bilingual writing class to the Mexican American kids we work with full-time; begin to work with kids in North Philadelphia, where the need is great; and work with even more kids in our home-base South Philadelphia neighborhood, where weve been holding down the fort for five years. We can only do that with your help. Earlier today, Annette John-Hall, our program director in West Philadelphia, sent me the draft of an appeal for support she was making to a foundation. Reading it reminded me of why she was such a great Philadelphia columnist. Heres what she wrote: Here at Mighty Writers we teach kids how to write and think clearly. Period. Of course, that simple mission is not as easy as it seems. Mantua, the area of Philadelphia that Mighty Writers West serves, is viewed as one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the city. President Obama has designated it a Promise Zone, one of five nationally. But a Promise Zone designation brings the promise of what? We arent sure. What we do know is that many of the children who live in Mantua come through our doors with challenges. Many have family problems. Others deal with social issues. Most struggle in the day-to-day grind of poverty. But the good news is, all children, regardless of circumstance, have the capacity to learn. More funding would allow us to purchase the needed tools of our trade: computers, Smart Boards, transportation and field trips, all of which help open kids eyes to an entire world before them. Wed also be able to pay instructors for more SAT prep classes that our parents so desperately tell us they need for their children. We could develop more sophisticated writing programs that will enable kids to better transfer their sharp insights to words on a page. Wed be better able to supplement inferior public school education with programs that empower, engage and enlighten. And maybe thats where the promise comes in. Wed be able to give students the promise of hope for a successful future: Their own. Couldnt say it better ourselves. Please. Donate now and help Mighty Writers stay strong and reach more kids. No gift is too small. With Mighty gratitude, Tim Whitaker Executive Director [email protected] bit.ly/1hMEjxW
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 20:41:53 +0000
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