5 April 2006

Dear Friend,

This letter is coming to you to bring you the latest news from the HLC. The interest and excitement by people who want to learn burns brightly here. There are many new faces, eager to live a life of improved understanding and literacy. We offer low income and poverty level children and adult’s literacy and life skills improvement programs and our programs are free. It requires operating capital to support programs like ours so I’d like to explain what we are doing and why our efforts directly affect you and what you can do to help.

Illiteracy is the breeding ground for poverty, criminality, drug abuse and gangs. HLC programs are available to anyone and targets Hispanics specifically, since as a group they desperately need a stable and centralized location to help them to learn English, our laws, as well as to understand our society and culture. Better understanding by the Hispanic people of our multi-cultural society will lead to a better community for all of us. Lately, we have had an increase in our enrollment of at-risk black and white neighborhood children that recognize that we are there to help them also, after all, today’s children are tomorrow’s civilization.

The immigration problem is a political “hot potato” of long duration like abortion and gun control and the Hispanic population has been caught in the middle of it. We know that the notion of “just ignore the Hispanics” won’t solve anything. Pretending a problem doesn’t exist, or letting “someone else take care of it” won’t handle anything. Aren’t you tired of just pretending? Don’t you want to do something about it? In spite of rhetoric otherwise, the Hispanic workers in this state have contributed immensely to North Carolina’s economic growth. Visit the North Carolina Bankers Association website (http://www.ncbankers.org) and click on “The Economic Impact of the Hispanic Population on the State of North Carolina Study”. It clearly shows that the increased wealth and growth we enjoy are a direct result of the Hispanic worker. Yes, there are problems to solve, but we are doing something about it. Take the responsibility and show different cultures and races the compassion and understanding that separates us Americans from the rest of the world. This is a humanitarian cause. A child who is hungry or who needs help with learning has committed no crime. A father and mother who have been forced to leave an environment of crushing poverty but are willing to work hard and support their children not only deserve my support, but yours as well. You are being asked to make the decision to rise above the controversy while the political solutions are worked out.

The Hispanic Learning Center of Cabarrus County is dedicated to improving people's lives through literacy and education. You can easily see that these are the keys to self-respect and success in life. Poverty is a trap for the illiterate. Regions and cities that support learning and higher education are much better places to live in. Wages are higher and the quality of life is better. Cities which inadequately support effective educational programs for their low-income citizens are rife with welfare cases, criminality and drugs. While the HLC primarily works with the exploding Hispanic population, its services are available to anyone who can make the effort to show up on a regular basis with the desire to improve their literacy and life skills.

Our goal is to raise $20,000.00 by May 31, 2006. Your generous donation is tax deductible as we are a non-profit, 501-(c)-(3) organization and will be used to help cover payroll and operating expenses. I’ve enclosed a response card and a brochure which explains our programs in more detail. I also invite you to visit our web site at: www.thehlc.org for a tour of our programs, activities and community betterment programs.

Now that you are aware of our purposes and what we stand for, help us to reach our goal with a pledge or cash donation to the Hispanic Learning Center of Cabarrus County. We are the only community organization doing what we do and clearly, we are ‘it’. Volunteer tutors are always welcome. We look forward seeing you becoming active in our community efforts to make a difference. Become a participant, not a spectator, we need more teammates! The wrong thing to do is to do nothing.

Best Regards,

Thomas R. Goedeke
Fundraising Chairman