Project: Pearlington - Hope Chests

In the spirit of unconditional giving and to ensure that the families in Pearlington understand that we are not soliciting gratitude for a simple act of kindness, Dream School has created the following protocol for sponsoring a HOPE CHEST.

Here's how to sponsor a Hope Chest for the children and their families of hurricane-ravished Pearlington, Mississippi:

1) Send a cheque, to the address below, for $60.00 Cdn. for each Chest you and your family wishes to sponsor or, call 705-445-8713 to leave a credit card number; if we are unavailable, leave your number and we will return your call. Please make the cheque payable to: Dream School International.

2) Include in the envelope with your cheque, or mail separately, one photo of you, your children or your family. On the back, write your family's names (and ages of the children, if you wish). For the protection of your children and the children of Pearlington, DO NOT include your address or city/town.

3) Upon distribution in Pearlington, we will do our best to record the name and age of the child receiving your Hope Chest and provide this to you upon our return.

4) Inside each Hope Chest will be a card inviting the Pearlington family to contact Dream School by email, or by phone, when either is available, and provide the family's name. We will then cross-reference that to our list and provide your email address, if they wish to make contact with you and if you wish to be contacted.

WHAT TO DO NOW:

1) Include your cheque, photo (if desired), with your children's names and ages on the back of the photo (if desired) - please write nothing else on the photo.

2) OR call the number above to give your credit card number and mail the photo to the address below.

3) Indicate clearly if you wish to sponsor a Hope Chest for a child in the following age groups:

Up to age 6
7 - 11 years
12-14 years
Doesn't matter

4) Indicate if you are open to possible correspondence from the sponsored family sometime in the future.

Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is almost impossible to comprehend, in the comfort of our own homes, what it must be like to lose everything in a single day.

Thousands of children here in southern Ontario and other countries continue to regularly receive our signature Dream School program. It has been our long experience in Canada, in Bosnia during the war there, with the Children of Chernobyl in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union and elsewhere, that we truly live in a global village. In the age of Internet and world-wide communications, we have a responsibility - that is, an "ability to respond" - to the pain of children everywhere. We cannot change their reality as yet, but we can offer hope and build their resilience so that they will find a way out of their maze.

Nothing does this as effectively as those children knowing that somewhere, someone cares. After all, we are all in this together.

Thank you.
Jon White, Founder

Mailing address: 262 Batteaux Rd., R.R. 2, Collingwood, ON Canada L9Y 3Z1
705-445-8713 Fax: 705-445-8231