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Dear Leo Buscaglia Foundation Friends:
It's time to share some of our activities with you, since you are good enough to share with us. We recently made a couple of new grants to community groups who practice our goal of enhancing the spirit of giving, so I’d like to start by describing them.
- The Angel Foundation - Arvada, Colorado
The Angel Foundation in Arvada, Colorado, offers child abuse prevention programs. This straight forward operation really impressed us. They arrange retreats where women “begin developing a feeling of give and take as opposed to just taking.” Participants “pay” for their training by giving eight hours to community programs, but they often stay on long past the required time. They have first-hand knowledge of community needs, too. For example, one of last year’s retreat participants helped design a “traveling store,” which was taken to homeless shelters so that families could more easily find holiday gifts, since transportation is usually a problem.
Our grant will help with children’s art and teen mothers programs, and with operating expenses.
- Adopt-A-Social Worker - Tucson, Arizona
Another imaginative program benefiting from a Leo Buscaglia grant is Adopt-A-Social Worker, part of Parent Aid in Tucson, Arizona. High school students work with social workers to discover “ways to meet the basic needs of low income families.” The students bring a fresh approach to the topic and make worthwhile contributions. The goal is for them to learn that doing good can be a shared social experience. This is emphasized at the end of the program when the students sponsor a picnic attended by their teachers, the social workers, and the families involved in the program.
News of Previous Recipients
A spring grant recipient, Fresh Youth Initiatives, in the Washington Heights area of New York City, sent a letter saying “it’s hard to put in words how appreciative we are for the support that the Leo Buscaglia Foundation has provided.” This was the first out-of-state grant for this group, which recruits neighborhood youth to design and run their own community volunteer projects. They have leveraged our grant into a listing in the Catalog for Giving, which should improve future funding. This is our goal: provide funding to a small established group to help them become more visible so that other funding sources are attracted to them. This is our approach to enhancing the spirit of giving.
Maria French, one of our original grant recipients and the only individual to receive one, was honored last month in Los Angeles by the Crippled Children’s Society and the Jones-Kanaar Foundation for “her creative abilities and deep concern for handicapped persons.” She is Lead Teacher at Widney High School in Los Angeles.
Contributions
We have said it many times, but is worth repeating: our activities are enhanced by your involvement. We are still a small foundation. That makes you very important to us. And while monetary contributions are necessary, and always appreciated, so are your ideas. If you hear of a group that might qualify for a grant in your area, for instance, have them contact us.
Two recent non-monetary contributors in Wisconsin are Mary Norges of Fond du Lac and Patricia Pollom of Madison. We want to thank them for distributing our Live Giving cards in book stores in their area. Patricia, through her Friends of Leo Buscaglia organization, also had the mayor of Madison declare March 31, which was Leo’s birth date, as Leo Buscaglia Day in that city. The local cable community access channel is showing a couple of Leo’s PBS taped lectures as a result of Patricia’s efforts, as well.
We also want to acknowledge the staff of the Tahoe Tallac Association, South Lake Tahoe, CA. They proved the adage this summer that “many hands make light work” by helping with our special summer mailing, and also with this one.
Projects
Our instructional video, "A Memory for Tino," is now offered in Canada through a marketing agreement with our current distributor, Videos With Values. This story, based on Leo Buscaglia's book of the same name, is designed to show youngsters the importance of selfless giving. If you want a copy in the U.S., call VWV at 314-621-1509, or Great Plains National, our original distributor, at 800-228-4630.
The idea of a book to honor Leo's life and work has been approved, although details are not firm. Steven Short, the Leo Buscaglia Foundation Board Secretary, also still manages Leo's office. He will provide biographical material and photos. The new book will also likely contain excerpts from Leo's work chosen by Barbara Slack, Foundation Advisory Board Member and advisor on every one of Leo's books. We should have more information by our spring report.
Interest in such a book is strong internationally, both in Europe and Japan. A case of "Leo-mania" seems to be spreading in Japan, where The Fall of Freddie the Leaf has sold over a million copies in the past year, Papa My Father has been reissued, and three editions of Bus 9 to Paradise are available, in paperback, a larger "trade" edition, and a new abridged version! There is also the possibility of a film based on "Freddie" there.
Have you been to a book store lately? Both Borders Books and Waldenbooks have special floor displays for Seven Stories of Christmas Love now through late December.
Growth in Giving
Other Leo projects are possible. The one closest to his heart, though, was this Foundation. You may have seen news accounts that The Chronicle of Philanthropy showed a 16 percent increase in contributions last year to the nation’s most popular charities. This is good news, and reflects the strong economy. But maybe it also reflects an enhanced spirit of giving. We would like to think so, since this is our focus.
Are you thinking yet about holiday gifts? Have you considered a gift contribution to the Leo Buscaglia Foundation in honor of business associates or friends? You know it will be the right size, and it doesn’t have to be dusted! We will inform them of how that gift is being used, and we will send a personalized holiday notice welcoming them and acknowledging you.
For more information, please contact Jeff Jordan at (310) 791-3144 or email: Felicefoundation@aol.com |
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