A MESSAGE FROM OUR LEADERSHIP BOARD CHAIRMAN

Dear Friends,

I am writing you this new year to ask you to lend a hand, lift a spirit, and enrich the life of a youngster in the Chicago area by making a contribution to The Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Lend-A-Hand Program. The Lend-A-Hand Program has been helping kids in tutor/mentor programs throughout the city for the past ten years and needs your help to secure a more permanent source of funding.

The Lend-A-Hand Program began in 1993 during my term as CBA President as a way to recognize the best tutor/mentor programs in the area. Recently renamed in honor of one of our legal community’s greatest mentors, the late Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, the Program has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars and numerous volunteer mentors and board members to neighborhood tutor/mentor organizations. Through the generous support of law firms, corporations and individuals, Lend-A-Hand has provided seed grants to start-up programs, desperately needed funds to struggling programs, and publicity and volunteers for well established tutor/mentor programs. I am very proud to report that Lend-A-Hand is the only charity in the country where an entire professional community has adopted tutoring/mentoring as the focus of its giving.

But we can and must do more to ensure that each child living in poverty in Chicago has the opportunity to develop a one-on-one relationship with a mentor. As the needs of children grow and as governmental support of after-school tutor/mentor programs diminishes, Lend-A-Hand needs to take on a larger and more prominent role in supporting neighborhood programs. I am therefore asking you and other leaders in the legal community to step up and share our vision for Lend-A-Hand by making a long-term financial commitment to the program. I am also proud to report that Corboy & Demetrio has committed to make significant, multi-year contributions to the Program. Our goal is to raise $250,000 in annual operating and grant funds for Lend-A-Hand by securing the commitment of at least 25 law firms, corporations and individuals to make annual contributions of $10,000 each to the Program for three years. Contributors will each have an award named after them and be designated as Foundational Members of Lend-A-Hand.

We can reach this goal with your help. I, or, a member of the Board of the program will be calling to set up a meeting to discuss why a contribution to Lend-A-Hand is a worthwhile investment in our future. I hope you will make time to meet with us, hear us out and open your heart to the needs of our community’s children.

Thank you for your consideration of this noble endeavor. I wish you, your colleagues and families a happy and healthy 2005.

 

Very truly yours,

Thomas A. Demetrio