Dear Supporter:
Thank you for the opportunity to be considered for support. In the three years since its founding, the Capital Region Education And Tennis Experience (“CREATE”) has played a major role in the emergence of diverse junior tennis programs which includes teaching tennis to students who are deaf and hard of hearing and students who live in at-risk environments. CREATE uses the First Serve Life Skills Curriculum to “empower young people by providing local tennis facilities and schools with a life skills program that promotes positive values, healthy habits, and education through the game of tennis – resulting in real life power, on and off the court.” CREATE has witnessed this power change the lives of a population of special needs students on the campus of Gallaudet University and the surrounding DC community.
Priority needs for CREATE’s programs, which manage in-school Physical Education, after-school and summer programs is funding for curriculum supplies, equipment, part-time program staff and facility enhancements that directly strengthen our mission. To date, we have relied on small USTA grants and sporadic local government grants along with volunteerism and minimally compensated staff to fund our financial needs. While this type of funding works for immediate funding needs, it results in limited continuity for the participants whose success depends on positive role models and the relationships built with CREATE instructors.
The CREATE Organization has a 2011 fundraising goal of $50K to support programming that makes a meaningful difference in the lives of the youth we serve. A generous contribution from you will give us the critical foundation we need to implement our strategic plan. We believe that our programming is consistent with the mission and interest of the children we serve, including a population of children who are deaf and hard of hearing. We hope that you will find it in your
heart and budget to support CREATE.
Yours Truly,
Carmela Goodall
Executive Director