My housemate Kim used to occasionally post on Alas as Kim (Basement Variety). Her kids, also my housemates, Sydney and Maddox, used to appear regularly on “Alas,” first in “Baby Blogging” and then in “Kid Blogging” posts. They now attend a really nice K-12 school right near our house; I’ve visited the school several times and found the staff kindly and the kids happy and actively learning.
Anyway, the school is now in financial difficulty, and Kim asked me to post this letter from her on “Alas.” I can’t afford much, but I’ll be tossing them a few bucks, and I hope some “Alas” readers will too.
January 27, 2011
Dear Friends and Family;
As many of you know, this past year, Matt and I have enrolled our daughters Sydney and Maddox in a unique and amazing school called “The Village Free School”. The school is one of a handful in the United States and is founded on the democratic principles of freedom, conscientious citizenship, collaboration and differentiated learning.
The reason I’m writing you today is because like many other individuals and institutions in our country, our school has found itself experiencing a crippling shortfall of resources and faces closure at the end of March if we are unable to off-set these financial issues with donations. The school is actively seeking new and effective ways of raising funds, but as we all know, one of the most effective ways of raising funds is simply reaching out to others to ask for help in the form of donations.
I know that like Matt and I, many of you are experiencing the crunch of our slow economy, but I also know that we have surrounded ourselves with some of the most generous and thoughtful people who are concerned with lending a hand when it’s needed. With that in mind, I’m making a humble plea as a parent and supporter of the Village Free School for donations small or large (tax deductible of course). Whether you can afford $5 or $20, any help you offer is as appreciated as it is needed. I understand that some of you can’t donate, but I want to thank you as well for simply having taken the time to hear our plea.
If you would like to make a donation, here is the Village Free School donation page, where you can choose one of the selected amounts, or fill in your own amount. For those of you that have already donated on behalf of our family, please accept our sincere and heartfelt thanks! Also, if you do make a donation, I would love it if you sent me an email at kim@pbbr.com so I can send out a special thank you note from our daughters Sydney and Maddox.
If you cannot donate now, please consider participating in the upcoming fund raising events that are on the horizon – these will be posted soon on the Village Free School website.
Again, thank you for any and all support you give as we work to overcome this problem. I have included pictures of Sydney and Maddox at school, to give you a birds-eye view of how special this school is.
Kindest Regards & Many Thanks,
Kim, Matt, Sydney and Maddox
(Click on photos to view larger).
Maddox learns math. I love Maddox’s calm work ethic.
Sydney at school, doing something or other. As usual, it’s hard to point a camera at Sydney and not wind up with a nice photo.
