January 27, 2003
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Trinity Child Development Center. It's hard to believe
we're almost into our second month of 2003!
The recent economic downturn hit us hard late last fall. There are no new
children in subsidized child care and very few whose parents can afford to
pay for quality care during the day. The CDC is stable with a continuing
staff and with our 24 continuing children. We have 2 new children this
month who are part-time-only due to family finances. We have hopes for 2
more new children in February. We have tightened up our budget by cutting
down staff's hours to just the essential times (not much time for planning
and collaborating). We have informed all 6 parents who were receiving
tuition reduction assistance that it will not be available as of February
1st because we have used all of our grants from this last year. These
families are trying to scrape money together from the Housing Authority,
from grandparents, etc. because they want they children to remain here. We
still hope and pray that some of our newest grant requests will soon
surprise us with some funds.
But we have two instances where the families have used all their resources
and cannot afford $430 month tuition for their children. These two little
children will not be able to return to Trinity, their stable home away from
home, next week on February 3rd. Both families are led by single moms
who are not receiving federal assistance but cannot make it alone. So I am
putting out one last plea to see if a few people could find it in their
hearts and in their bank accounts to donate some money for these 2 families.
Each family needs a total of $322 a month in order to afford our care.
If not, we will just have to pray that God has another plan for these
children and families.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Please pray tomorrow,
January 29th, for the Children's Advocacy Day led by Texans Care for
Children, who will have a rally at noon on the steps of the State Capitol.
God bless us each and everyone!
Sincerely,
Gloria Neunaber
(Please feel free to pass this one to any past parent or potential donor you
can think of)
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