The Laurel Association for Student Philanthropy


The Laurel Association for Student Philanthropy has been founded to promote community and philanthropy among teenagers whereby students are guided to research local non-profit organizations benefiting children's education and enrichment programs. 
This effort will be documented and made available to our community of families and friends so they too can participate in the selection of each year’s beneficiary from the annual fund-raising events. The mission will continue to focus on bringing a diverse group of high school students together to celebrate friendship and giving to others. The Laurel Association will also provide all those involved in the past years with annual updates of the continued happenings and charitable work taken on each year by their younger peers. 
The long term objectives are being discussed and considered and among these ideas is the goal to have the past, current and future Laurel student committees and attendees informed and linked to our city’s charitable organizations and events during their college years. This would facilitate and expand the philanthropic participation for these young adults in our city and provide so many charitable causes with new energy and goodwill.
Thank you for your support.
   
The Laurel Association for Student Philanthropy Officers
     Zachary S. Gordon   Marta Judson   Natasha Makowski   Sharon Redd     

Board of Directors in Development

Please write to us:
The Laurel Association for Student Philanthropy
66 Charles Street Box 456 Boston MA 02114



We thank the  2008 Committee for their submissions to the following charities that benefit children's education, health and enrichment programs to bring more awareness and consideration for our support.


Make a notable difference for kids in your city!


Esperanza Academy, Lawrence MA. Submitted by Jr. Committee member,  Lowell A.,  Brooks School, 2010

Esperanza Academy, School of Hope, is a tuition-free school that creates an enriched environment fostering individual success and community commitment for fifth through eighth grade girls from Lawrence, Massachusetts. At Shore Country Day School, we helped clean and organize their building. Students from Brooks tutor and help out with the children. You can learn more at http://www.esperanzaacademy.org


Help for Abused Women and their Children, Salem MA. Submitted by Becky S., Brooks School, MA 2010

The purpose of HAWC is to create social change by taking action against personal and societal patterns of violence and oppression. HAWC provides services and support to victims of domestic violence residing in 23 cities and towns on Massachusetts' North Shore in order that they may make informed, independent decisions about their futures, and access alternatives to living in a violent situation. For several years, I have walked with the Youth Group from my church in the annual Walk for HAWC. They also have many volunteer opportunities, and are especially looking for donations of working cell phones so they can give them to their clients. T
heir website is at http://www.helpabusedwomen.org/index.html

  Help the Greater Boston Food Bank, Submitted by Jr. Committee member Mathieu W., Dexter School, MA 2010

The organization I propose sponsoring is the Greater Boston Food Bank www.gbfb.org <http://www.gbfb.org/
Their mission statement is the following:  To help end hunger in eastern Massachusetts.

To achieve our mission, The Food Bank feeds more than 320,000 people annually in nine counties in eastern Massachusetts. They're poor to middle-class people who can't make ends meet. They're our friends, neighbors, and colleagues.

The Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and one of the largest food banks in the country. We distribute approximately 30 million pounds of food and grocery products annually to a network of more than 600 member hunger-relief agencies. We are a trusted and efficient resource for these local food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless and residential shelters, youth programs, senior centers, and day-care centers, providing the food they need to feed the hungry. Still, the need for food is growing <http://www.gbfb.org/aboutHunger/HungerStudy.cfm in the 190 communities we serve. That's why we need your help  http://www.gbfb.org/donateFunds/index.cfm


Margaret's House, the largest family shelter in Boston, serving 32 homeless women and their children, Submitted by Jr. Committee member Alek M. Pomfret School, CT 2011

Margaret's House is part of St.Mary's Women and Children's Center, They take care of homeless women and children when the women are pregnant.  They always need baby clothes and other children's toys. It is a way to help with a small gift. Margaret's house does not have its own website.
Here is their address and contact information: Margaret's House 90 Cushing Avenue Dorchester, MA 02125
Also for St. Mary's Womens and Children's Center, their website that gives you other ways to help.  http://www.smwcc.org/


  The mission of St. Stephen’s Youth Programs is to serve low income, at-risk youth in the City of Boston and Chelsea during Out-of-School Time (AST) by providing them with a safe, challenging, and supportive community in which they can thrive. 
We strive to build a community where all people -- in the words of the Youth Program's theme -- “Feel Safe, Feel Big, and Feel Connected.”   
The Need:  The Youth Programs serve over 500 children and youth ages 5-18.  Children and youth in our program predominately identify as Latino or African American, but our program population also includes children and youth who identify as Vietnamese, Cape Verdean, Haitian, West Indian, and Native American.
Almost all of our families live in public housing in the City of Boston or Chelsea in households with incomes at or near the national poverty level and live in neighborhoods which that have been labeled "hot spots" for violence (due to both gang activity and gun use) by the mayor's office and Boston Police.
 
St. Stephen's Youth Programs meets the needs of these at-risk children and youth by providing places to go that are physically and emotionally safe, individual adult attention that includes both nurture and mentoring, academic support, enrichment opportunities, structured and supervised social activities, and (in the case of our teens) quality part-time employment.

How to Help:The Budget  for the year is about $750,000, of which parent fees cover 5% of cost.  Which means lots left to raise, and any contribution is hugely appreciated. 

The Jimmy Fund, Submitted by Jr. Committee members John F. St. Sebastian's School, MA 2011,  & Thomas F. Dexter School, MA 2009

  We want to remind everyone about the the Jimmy Fund .   A contribution to the Jimmy Fund helps support the Dana Farber Cancer institute in their fight against childhood and adult cancers.   Since so many of us know friends and family members who have been diagnosed with cancer, supporting this charity would be very meaningful.  About The Jimmy Fund: Since its founding in 1948, the Jimmy Fund has supported the fight against cancer in children and adults at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, helping to raise the chances of survival for cancer patients around the world. http://www.jimmyfund.org


The Laurel Association for Student Philanthropy would like to provides these links  to further awareness
to these notable programs for children in our city:

Did  you know about the Education and Outreach Programs at the Boston Ballet?

Foster a love of dance and creative expression in children with Down’s syndrome

The Adaptive Dance Program, now in its fourth year, continues to be a successful joint venture between Boston Ballet and the Department of Physical Therapy, Children's Hospital in Boston. The program reflects an innovative collaboration between the staff from both facilities and is designed to foster a love of dance and creative expression in children with Down’s syndrome. Although the primary goal of Adaptive Dance classes is for the children to experience the sheer joy of dance and music, program evaluation suggests that it has many other important benefits to the children who participate including improvements in their coordination, overall fitness, balance, focus, listening, self-esteem, self-expression, rhythm and musicality. http://www.bostonballet.org/educationoutreach/adaptivedance.html
Established in the fall of 1991, Citydance is a scholarship dance program offered to third-grade students in the Boston Public Schools. Designed to educate and introduce public school children to a variety of dance forms, Citydance offers students from all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds a chance to dance. Because of its broad scope and commitment to excellence, Citydance has become a model dance education program for institutions across the country.  http://www.bostonballet.org/educationoutreach/citydance.html

The Laurel Association for Student Philanthropy has supported and will continue to consider  the great work of the Conservatory Lab Charter School

Learning Through Music

    The mission of the Conservatory Lab Charter School is to engage all children by using the Learning Through Music curricular model to ensure every child's academic, artistic, creative, and social/emotional success, as validated by qualitative and quantitative measures. http://www.conservatorylab.org/

http://www.conservatorylab.org/
  


The Laurel Association for Student Philanthropy has supported and will continue to consider the great work of  Epiphany School

Never gives up on a child

Epiphany is an independent, tuition-free, middle school for children of economically disadvantaged families from Boston neighborhoods. We admit children of diverse faiths, races, cultures, and cognitive profiles, believing in the Episcopal tradition that we find God in and through each other's presence. Epiphany's small classes, individualized curricula, and extended school days provide rigorous academic, moral and social instruction. In close partnership with families, we are an innovative learning community that affords structured support to help students thrive. Together, we are a school that never gives up on a child. Epiphany challenges students to discover and develop the fullness of their individual gifts. We seek to prepare graduates who will contribute intelligently, morally, and actively to the society they will inherit. http://www.epiphanyschool.com