An open letter to Friends of HCEF

Stephen Jay Gould has written: "Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope . . . ."

Together you and the Homeless Children's Education Fund can work effectively to prevent this kind of tragedy in the lives of children experiencing homelessness in Allegheny County. We can continue to do so with your help in raising public awareness of the very existence of children's homelessness and the immense challenges to their academic success. We can make a significant impact with your monetary contributions that provide enhancements to and support of learning within the shelters. You and your family can directly support educational programs for an estimated 3,000 children who experience homelessness in our county in just one year.

In all of these ways, at whatever level of commitment you are able to make, you are helping make a difference in the lives of real children in our very real "neighborhood."

Your individual gifts support the yearly awarded Mini-grants for Educational Innovation that directly enhance learning opportunities within the shelters and consequently children's self-esteem. We hear from shelter staff that a child's reading and math skills are improving noticeably through his use of educational software provided by an HCEF grant; that an older youth receives an award for the essay on homelessness he composed on a computer in an HCEF-built Learning Center; that the children in a shelter's after-school programming are practicing their reading every day, using the sizeable library HCEF has established in each of the 17 shelters we serve. We encourage you to visit this regularly updated website often to see exactly how your contributions are making a difference.

These children have lost much in their short lives. You and I can provide a gift through education that no one can take away from them. Make a tax-deductible contribution to the Homeless Children's Education Fund e, online at www.homelessfund.org, or through the United Way (contributor's choice #963315). Do it today. Your gift will help make it possible for these children to know hope through learning.

With sincere appreciation,

William Wolfe, Chairman of the Board

Joseph F. Lagana, Founder

10/1/07