Greetings in Gratitude!
We are excited to kick off our 14th Holiday Mission! If you are new to our work, thank you so much for your interest in helping us this year! If you are someone – and there are many – who have been with us over the years, THANK YOU so much for your commitment and dedication
to our work! In 2007, Mario and I decided to commit $3,000 of our money to help those in need during the Holidays. We reach out to friends & family and ask that rather than exchanging gifts with one another, that they donate to our mission. Thirteen missions later with $108,500 raised [not including items purchased individually and donated], our community of love is alive & strong. What a gift!
Did you know there are almost 24,000 students currently experiencing homelessness across the State of Massachusetts? The number has been trending upward; however, there has not been a pandemic-related uptick thanks to the eviction moratorium, rental relief funds, and other programs. School support systems are concerned that the numbers will increase dramatically when the moratorium ends. Across the state, schools are becoming a resource for much more than education. We came to meet Arlin Santiago a few years ago when we included her homeless students in a few of our missions. As the Homeless Education Liaison for the Lawrence Public School system, Arlin is dedicated to each and every one of the currently 160 homeless students who have come to rely on her as a resource in their times of greatest need.
Facing the challenges of being a young person are difficult enough, let alone having to face those challenges during housing instability and food insecurity. Many of the student’s parents are working; however, with increasing costs, especially with food and rent, they have fallen on
to hard times. Of course, many of them would love to be able to support their children financially with say a pair of sneakers so they can join the basketball team or pay for a child to attend an after-school field trip, provide art supplies to a child who wants to become an artist, or money to shop at a bookstore; unfortunately, they need to allocate their financial resources to substantive priorities. We want to help these students who are not able to access such programs and related items so they can feel like everyone else. Yes, we have supported Arlin with many shoes and winter coats in the past and there may be some we help this year as well; however, Arlin is focused as we speak on sending out a survey to each of the students asking what they would like to do with regard to a school-related activity or community program.
Feedback will guide us on how we can best help students individually or in groups to gain access to these extra-curricular activities. Arlin also works with Project Home Again who provide essential items such as bedding, pillows, dishes, silverware, mattresses etc. to students and their
families who have found housing and need items to get them established again. Arlin will let us know of situations where a student is in real need of something right now and we will work with Project Home Again to supplement needed items.
As with each of our missions, we prioritize our ability to provide for everyone based on monies raised. We feel significantly challenged with this mission since our goal is to impact as many of the 160 students as possible. We are blessed with your tremendous generosity and know
each of you will provide us with the necessary funds to help achieve our goal. Together we can support these students who deserve access to programs that will help them grow personally while also feeling equal amongst their peers. 100% of donations raised will go directly to helping us purchase items. Donation can be made directly to Foundation Dario, Inc. [a 501(C)(3)] at P.O. Box 1192, Groton MA 01450 or through our Venmo Account Daniel Ploof @Foundation-Dario. We are always happy to shop for you. For those of you who would like to purchase items on your own, please reach out to Dan directly [978-944-8444 or at daploof@hotmail.com
It would be super helpful if all donations were to arrive before December 16th.
As we are still in our apartment searching for our new home, logistics make it a challenge to host an open house for gift wrapping this year.
Stay tuned for our follow-up letter and photos though to hear of our collective fundraising results!
If you have not had an opportunity to check out our website, please visit us at Foundationdario.org
With Tremendous Love & Gratitude,
