Annual Fund Drive 2010

To all my colleagues in the SAA:

Thanking Our Lucky Stars—what a wonderful sentiment to contemplate for the SAA’s Annual Fund Drive 2010. We each have had the good fortune to know many people, whose lives having touched ours, have left a lasting impression for the good in our own. There are teachers and mentors in our past, but also friends and family in the present, and colleagues whose programs have inspired us to reach for our own personal best. Choosing just one to honor now with a twinkling star may be daunting, but let’s get started and perhaps we can add others to our galaxy in ensuing years.

Thanking Our Lucky Stars is truly a time for remembering. Remembering the things that I deeply care for makes me want to help them thrive. That is the way I feel about the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and that is why I am glad that I am being asked to give. I could have thought of giving all by myself, but being asked gives me the warm feeling that we are all being asked together. My gift may seem insignificant in itself, but just knowing that during the focused time of a fund drive, we are all considering giving, I feel part of something that I care for very much.

Whomever we choose to honor, the gift itself will go towards furthering the mission of the SAA, so it is a gift of double magnitude. In making my choice, I’m going to think outside the box a little bit. It is a time of remembering, yes, but also a time of looking forward. And that is why I am dedicating my gift in honor of “all of the children who aren’t even born yet.” In so doing I will be helping to assure that the SAA will be strong and vibrant when they arrive. And what could be better than that?

Cordially,