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Letters


HEARTSTRONG NEEDS - YOU CAN HELP! Dear Friends... Summer is almost here! Sometimes it gets treacherous traveling around in wintery weather as much as we do. So we are glad for the sunshine and warmer temperatures! Between June 1 and September 1 the HeartStrong Outreach Team will continue to do all of our regular outreach programs. This includes school visits. Many schools have summer programs and it is often easier for us to slip onto campuses to leave our materials unnoticed during the summertime. More good news is that in the past three weeks we have been able to help an additional twelve students from religious schools. All of whom, contacted us because of our outreach program where we mail materials about HeartStrong to schools in hopes that administrators will warn students about us. After nine years of doing this, it still works. And, it still helps save the emotional and physical lives of these young people. After paying for our usual necessary expenses for June (Internet, websites, telephone, supplies, etc.), our bank account will be empty. This is a very serious matter for us. Over the past few months there have been decreasing amounts of donations. We have been increasing our outreach and educational efforts while donations have been decreasing. On top of that, we have the software upgrades we have to buy that we told you about in our May newsletter. We still have not raised the $1000.00 needed just for that alone. The bottom line is that HeartStrong needs your financial help. Before we can even begin to do the work we need to do this summer, we need to raise the money to do so. HeartStrong needs to raise the money that we have budgeted for each month. In order to do all of the projects we budget for, HeartStrong needs $10,000 a month. Right now, during a good month, HeartStrong receives about $2,000.00 a month. As you can see, there is about an $8,000.00 difference. That $8,000.00 difference stands between us and all of the work that we could do, if it was provided. There are about 24 of you who give sacrificially each month. And, whether its $5 or $100 we know that the gift comes to us out of love and the desire to help us help others. We could not have done anything or helped one person (out of the over 800) that we have helped in the past nine years if it werent for the faithful giving of our supporters. People like Landa Ikeda, a Japanese American who relinquished her reparations money (from the US government for their horrific treatment of her family) so that HeartStrong could buy its first outreach vehicle back in 1999. Without her purchase of that red Ford Ranger that so many of you have seen us drive around in for many years, we could not have done our work. Groups like www.sdakinship.org , whose members have given to HeartStrong faithfully over the years to help not only students from Seventh Day Adventist schools, but in all of the religious schools with students who are hurting. Churches like Holy Trinity Community Church in Nashville and the North Shore Unitarian Church near Chicago whose members have given what they can to keep us on the road. And all of the www.PFLAG.org Moms and Dads who have seen their own sons and daughters in the eyes of the students we work so feverishly to help. Parents who lovingly support their GLBT loved ones by supporting HeartStrong. It is the giving of these people and everyone like them that keeps us going. It is the giving of these people and everyone like them that enables us to be there for our students, to walk by their side as they traverse a difficult path. With all of that said, it should also be said that it is hard to ask for more. But we know that we have not even scratched the surface of what we can do. We need your help today. We need to raise that difference of $8,000.00 a month starting now. I know there are people reading this that could do all of that themselves. I know that there are people reading this that could give $5.00 a month to get that goal accomplished as well. One of the principles that I have lived my life by, is the principle of living by faith. It started as a religious principle but now its more of a spiritual way of looking at how I live my life. I have the faith that people who are reading this will hear what I am saying. I have the faith that after nine years of driving around this country and quietly and diligently doing our work, that you will see what it is that you can do to help us. HeartStrong is a 501(c)(3) educational non profit. Every donation is tax deductible. Its easy for you to give. Just go to www.heartstrong.org and click on the button that says donate. From our website you can make a one time or ongoing pledge using your Visa/Mastercard/Discover Card. You can also make your donation by credit card or check through the mail. Just include your donation amount, your credit card number and expiration date and your signature or your check and mail it to: HeartStrong, PO Box 2051, Seattle, WA 98111. You may also call me personally on the phone to make your donation. My phone number is 206-351-9993 and I would be happy to talk to you about your gift to HeartStrong. I hope that you will do this today, right now, before other important things grab your attention. We need your help starting today. I have faith that you will help. If you choose to mail your donation, please drop me an email at heartstrong@heartstrong.org and let me know of your intentions. That helps tremendously in our planning. I hope to hear from all of you soon. Sincerely, Marc Adams (volunteer) HeartStrong Executive Director PO Box 2051, Seattle, WA 98111 206-621-9129 , www.heartstrong.org heartstrong@heartstrong.org