Letter from Ms. Paula

Dear Friends of Happy Valley Elementary School,

I am reaching out to you because you have been a valued community partner in the past during our winter gifting season. Thank you for all of your generosity! With your help, we supported 13 students during the holiday season last year! Community partners like you make this all possible. You may be aware of the high degree of poverty experienced by many of our students in Bellingham. The need seems to increase each year and the time required to meet this need during the holiday season also increases as well.

In an effort to bring some equity into the nature of the gifting during the holidays, streamline our process as well as help us to support families during other times of the year, we are developing a new system for our community partners…like you! This year we will be encouraging our partners to donate Fred Meyer gift cards. This will empower our needy families to choose how to best fulfill their own needs. I know that for many of you, there is joy in identifying a needy child and then shopping for their holiday. However, there has been some inequity in the kinds and amounts of gifts our children receive, and we feel we can bring some balance into this equation with our new approach.

Please consider committing to donate by purchasing Fred Meyer gift cards at this link Sign-up Genius. Then purchase your cards and either bring them to Happy Valley Elementary School, or we will be happy to come and pick them up from you!

We appreciate you and all you do for our students and their families!

Sincerely,

Ms. Paula