September 20, 2002
The Dan and Mary Small Foundation
3142 E. Tulsa St.
Tulsa, OK 73012
Dear
Mr. Small,
The
Boys and Girls Club of Tulsa has been in existence over 60 years
providing recreation, counseling, tutoring and mentoring to children.
Over the years, we have watched our program grow to where we are
now serving over 3,000 young people yearly. As we have aged, the
demands on the organization have also increased along with the
needs of the children. Gone are the days when we were strictly
a recreational facility; we now are counselors, teachers and sometimes
even "parents".
Our
most immediate need is operation funds to hire additional teachers
for the after-school tutoring program. We need one teacher for
every five children. $10,000 would enable us to hire two teachers.
We currently have 30 children on a waiting list for tutoring support.
The
teachers provide one-on-one tutoring in math, science, and English.
We have seen children's grades improve significantly after tutoring,
sometimes as much as two letter grades. The tutors are also in
touch with the teachers from their home school to track that individual
child's educational needs. Not only have we seen progress in the
student's grades but the teachers report that their scores have
gone up on the required statewide tests. The most touching change
we have seen in these children has nothing to do with their grades
or tests, but in their self-esteem. The children discover that
they can learn. Not only can they learn but they enjoy learning.
We have watched these children blossom under this program.
"Joey"
is eight years old from a single parent family and is representative
of the children we work with in many ways. When Joey first came
to the center, he was quite shy but quickly came out of his shell
while playing with the other children. His mother asked for our
help in tutoring Joey as she is working two jobs to make ends
meet. She also confided in us that she never learned to "read
that well" and didn't want Joey to know. Joey at eight, had
already been held back a year and was struggling to keep up in
the second grade. His reading skills were meager at best though
he was able to do the simple math required for his grade level.
John, his tutor, worked with Joey five days a week for two months
and we saw him learn to love to read. While Joey is not finished
with the school year, we are confident he will move to the third
grade successfully.
We
have many more "Joeys" waiting, but we need your help
to reach out to more students. We recently received a grant of
$5,000 from the XYZ foundation. With your gift of $10,000 we will
be well on our way to meeting our goal of serving 30 additional
children. United Way has indicated to us that if we fund this
increase from outside sources this year, we can add this to our
allocation request to them for the following year.
We
appreciate your consideration of this request and if you have
any questions, please feel free to contact me at (918) 295-4000.
Sincerely,
Sue Bells
Executive Director
