The Letter 

                                            Logo of ________Children’s Shelter, Inc.

September 7, 2005

Dear friend of children,

I have 106 children in my care now. That is one hundred and six unique, loving and homeless children.

Forced out of their homes along the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, they are the lucky ones. They are alive.  But they don’t feel lucky.

Because they have lost everything.

Their homes. Their pets. Their friends. And their schools.  Some lost a parent or grandparent, too.  I can’t imagine a loss that great. Can you?

I’m making an urgent appeal to you our loyal supporter because you feel like family to me. And I need family around me now as I tell myself our goals to create financial support and safekeeping for Katrina’s Children are not impossible.

But Katrina’s Children need you to be their family even more than I do.

You know what it feels like to be a caregiver to our children, like a parent watches over his own children in times of emergency.  Isn’t that what families do? Help each other?

What is different now from the other times when I’ve written you is that the magnitude of the crisis of Hurricane Katrina is demanding that we take care of more people than we have room and resources for.  During the day and the night.  As you know, we are equipped to house and feed children under the age of five during the day only, and to help their parents find jobs. With no older siblings or parents spending the night.

But now the sheer numbers are staggering.

And it’s not just Katrina’s Children that are overwhelming me. Our shelter was already full when they arrived!

In my 15 years here I have never seen anything like this. Volunteers who were here when the shelter opened 20 years ago say they haven’t either. All those years of strategic planning couldn’t prepare us for this.

As I watch Katrina’s Children looking for a place to sleep on the floor and waiting in line for food and dry clothes, I am keenly aware of my responsibility.

And I am gravely concerned about how I can keep the shelter open three months from now. Or even next month. Turning them away is not an option for me, yet. I think it would be hard for you, too, to reward their courage and hope by shutting the door when they have come so far and need so much.

The challenge of Katrina’s Children is truly a challenge of extraordinary proportions. But it is also an equally extraordinary opportunity for you to make a contribution that would mean everything to Katrina’s Children and our ability to help their families become self-sufficient again.

Your opportunity is to become an integral part of our family. And to turn that family of children and their ‘families’ into a vital, nurturing community. Empowering children is an incredible experience. It’s why I come to work each day. It’s why I am so happy to know you and to feel your influence on our future.

Your courage matches that of Katrina’s Children. You have proved that it is. You have dared to become involved. You have courage to hear stories of hardship. You know the personal benefits of sharing what you have to empower others. Your generosity has given hope, health and new life to our children by providing a place for them to stay while their parents looked for jobs. In short, you’ve made our community strong.

Usually our emergency reserves are corporations and foundations. But their resources were depleted during recent hurricanes and the tsunami in Southeast Asia last winter.

This is where individual donors can help. I realize you may have been stretched thin in caring for your own relatives caught in the storm. Or maybe you have given to other worthy charities.

But you know we have experience in caring for distressed individuals. Our administrative costs are lower than many other charities’.

So could you consider making a gift once again? Like Katrina’s Children I really have very few places where I can turn.

I would be so grateful for any amount you could donate - $25, $50, $100 or more. A gift in cash would give us flexibility to use it for food or medicine, or whatever we run low on first. 

Maybe one of the reasons you’ve had empathy for our children is because you know what it feels like to need help or you know someone whose family or friends let him down. Or maybe one of your own children needed help.  Well, that’s what I’m feeling now.

Yet I know my feelings pale in comparison to what our Katrina survivors are facing. For many, it is so hard to ask for help. They are proud and they have not gone through this before, young or old.

Enabling people is a great gift. I hope you feel that because you’ve helped me keep up the fight.

I want to say that there is something extra strong about this group.  Maybe it comes from their all being homeless for the same reason. But they have so much courage and hope. Their strength is superhuman. Still, they are only human, like you and me. 

Three children - Kayla and Marcus from one family and Jason from another - are showing me how important it is to give everything I can.  I have written their stories in the enclosed brochure, “Katrina’s Children, Children of Hope.” I hope it will inspire you to stay the road in helping us create new lives for them.

If you have a survival story from your own family, the children and I would like to hear it. Please find the enclosed form for sharing it with us, along with an envelope and reply card to mail in with your check.

I look forward to hearing from you!

On behalf of Katrina’s Children and with deep thanks for whatever you can give,

____
Executive Director, _____Children’s Shelter, Inc.

P.S. Please respond with a donation for Katrina’s Children, the smallest who deserve the most in loving care. And don’t forget to tell us your Katrina survivor stories. Our children need you – your courage and your heart - now more than ever. Thank you.

The Response Form

Gifts for Katrina’s Children

------Yes, count on me to give $25, 50, 100, 200, 500 to Katrina’s Children so I can be family to them.

------I cannot give a personal gift now but I can give $____ from my company.

------Yes, count on me to double my gift by giving through my credit card in two segments of $-------- each. so I can help Katrina’s Children and their families become self-sufficient.

____I cannot make a contribution now but I can make a gift in kind by donating _____services. Please call me at ____to set this up.

____I would like to come in to the shelter and read to the children, joining the community of Katrina’s Children.

____I nominate ______(name) to make a matching gift. The phone number is _______.

____I would like to receive your e-newsletter to hear updates on Katrina’s Children and ways I might contribute to their future success.

Name:____________

Address: __________

Address:____________

E-mail address: _____________

Phone: ___________________

The Brochure

Katrina’s Children - Children of Hope

Meet three of Katrina’s Children, our “Children of Hope.” They inspire us by their courage and compassion despite great hardship and loss.

Jason’s story

Five year-old Jason arrived with his mom after surviving dehydration, hunger, and contamination from toxic floodwaters. Missing his little dog Happy that they had to leave behind when they were evacuated from the roof of their home in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, Jason has been grieving so acutely that only recently was he able to eat.  The fate of his father and two brothers who were awaiting rescue, and his grandmother who was wheelchair bound in a house in the neighborhood, is still unknown.

Jason’s mom knows they have a long road ahead but she’d determined to find a job and reunite her family using our extensive database of referrals. She has started a reading circle for Katrina’s Children that has become a way for all the children to share their stories and begin their mourning. 

Kayla and Marcus’s stories

Kayla tells her story of suffering and courage in a strong and matter of fact voice. Four years old and mature beyond her years, Kayla was wearing denim shorts, no shoes and shiny red barrettes when she told me, “Someone pushed my momma in the water and she gone.”

Marcus, Kayla’s older brother - sad and silent - speaks through his drawings that depict life at the Convention Center without food and water. He’d just started first grade when Katrina struck, too old for us to care for under normal conditions, but these are not normal times and we have welcomed him.

Their father doesn’t want to return to New Orleans. “My home was all I had,” he says. This is a close family and we believe they will be successful in building a new life, with your help and ours.

The longevity and excellence of our shelter

After nearly two decades, The _______ Children’s Shelter is still one of only two daytime shelters serving preschool children in Atlanta, thanks to you. Our children have taught us tenacity and strength.  By listening to their needs, we’ve gained valuable knowledge about what they need to thrive. We know how to put your gift to excellent use.

Last year we were awarded the Community Impact Award by the United Way of Metro _______’s Tocqueville Society for the positive impact of our programs and our long-standing service to the community. We also received the Community Foundation’s Managing for Excellence Award for strategic planning and management.

The benefits of your donation

A $20.00 donation feeds one family for 5 days; $45.00 dollars feeds and clothes two families for a week and pays for their medicine. $100 covers two families for two weeks with clothing, food and medicine and subway tokens.

Contributions may be designated for childcare, clothing, toys or employment.

The ripple effect of the courage of Jason, Kayla and Marcus

Our shelter is a happy place because Katrina’s Children are showing us how to redefine family and build community. When they arrived, Kayla, Marcus and Jason were from two separate families. Now they’re one, united in crisis as their families struggle for independence once again.

The bravery of Katrina’s Children inspires our staff.  Kayla illustrated her giving nature by giving her new friend Jason a toy dog to sleep with.

Contact us at _________for an opportunity to share with Katrina’s Children your family’s stories and lessons of how to survive in times of need. We thank you for connecting Katrina’s Children to the resources of the outside world, by giving hope and life, and by helping our smallest of the small survive and grow.