December 2008
Dear Worldfund Board of Directors,
We are very grateful to you all, today and beyond, for the following reasons:
We have had the benefit of very generous support from Worldfund for two years. This funding is in spite of the fact that we are a young school, are geographically remote, are not connected to any government or other institution which most funders require, etc. Additionally, we appear - at first glance - to be working on a small scale.
This support you provide us with is used to pay expenses related to the operation of the school such as salaries, transportation, taxes, food, supplies, etc. Just as importantly, this support has allowed us to go from survival mode to excellence mode. By this, I mean very simply that our focus has been able to shift greatly towards the best interest of our school and our students. No business, school or other organization can really reach their potential when their first priority is simply surviving the month.
As we have always envisioned a new model for education and charity, we feel blessed that, while always concerned with funding, we can devote so much energy to realizing the unique potential of each student. As we improve the function of our school, we will be more attractive to other results-driven funders, so our present ability to devote so much energy into the classrooms will likely lead us to greater success in attracting support in the long run. We will never forget that in May 2007, Luanne and Mauricio made a special effort to visit us, to share our vision and and see our potential beyond the tiny little school house we occupied at the time.
We consider ourselves among the new generation of charities that, in our case, will stand for a new standard for education. What is typically provided to the impoverished and disenfranchised in Maceió and similar locales in Brazil is just enough welfare to create life-long dependence, to allow for survival in misery, and to reinforce - both with the recipient and the donor - the idea that the benficiaries of charity have very low potential for progress. The price of this continued formula for ignorance here is becoming progressively more expensive. Our school clearly makes the argument that quality education is an affordable and desirable alternative.
Many of our students come from families who, for multiple generations, have only had the sad options that poverty and ignorance allow. Thanks in very large part to your support, this cycle of misery will now break. It would be most meaningful for us all if, one day soon, we can all share with you what this means to us. Aside from the practical considerations above, there is a personal appreciation that all of us here would like to relate. If even one of you could visit us, I think it would be extremely meaningful. The school belongs not only to the students and community here, but also to those who through support and faith, are an absolutely integral part of our team. We are a Worldfund school, and we welcome the Worldfund Board to visit your "starfish."
Abracos,
Claudia, David and all of us at Escola Estrela do Mar
