Letters to Former Students

Again.. let me know what you think OR if you would like to contribute and have a book given in your child's name let me know!!

September 18, 2008
Dear Families,
During Christmas break, I will be going to work in a failure to thrive clinic with babies and toddlers in Romania. This has been a lifelong dream! I am so excited about going! The cost of the trip is quite expensive – around $4500. I have been doing fundraising to help offset costs. I would like to talk to you about something special I would like to do.
The children in Tutova Clinic in Romania are placed there for mainly 2 reasons - their families cannot afford to take care of them or their families literally abandon them. The youngest child at the clinic is 1 month old. The oldest is a 6 year old. Typically after the age of 4 the children are moved to another clinic or orphanage. There are only 4 staff members and 1 nurse on duty during day time hours. At night there is typically 1 staff person on duty. At this time there are 26 children at Tutova Clinic. Unfortunately this means unless there are volunteers working at the clinic the children must remain in their cribs with little mental stimulation or adult interaction.
Most of you know how important I feel reading is – children who have the opportunity to explore books and hear stories read aloud from an early age are extremely fortunate. Studies show that language development which occurs before the age of 3 strongly influences later reading success. In addition to purchasing items for the children’s physical needs I would like to purchase several board books – at least one for each child to have as his/her own and several for the clinic to keep even after these children move on.
If you feel that you could donate any amount of money to help me with this effort I would greatly appreciate it. For each $10 donation I will make sure there is a book plate which lists your child as the donor. You can send donations in an envelope labeled “Terri Williams” through your child’s teacher or mail donations to my home address: 1630 Sam McCarter Way, Sevierville, TN 37876. Please make checks payable to me.
Thank you in advance for your support!

*** This is not included in the letter I am sending home with former students BUT my friend Cindy clued me in on this awesome digital scrapbook site which allows you to make mini-books at a relatively reasonable price... What I would really love to do is contact previous volunteers and request pictures of the kids -- then make each child's individual book that they will get to keep forever be a book full of pictures of themselves! One of the most important things about reading is making it relevant to the child -- think about how much your kids love seeing pictures of themselves -- wouldn't a practically indestructible scrapbook be such a cool gift that would stay special forever?!? There are lots of pictures of the kids out there on the web already so I think that part would be easy... just pray that I raise the funds to make this happen!!