DownCity's holiday special offer has expired. We would like to thank our customers, and the members of ECLUG who participated in our raffle, for helping to raise a total of $291 to benefit the organizations below.
We hope to get an earlier start next year so more of our customers can participate. In the meantime, don't forget that there are also meaningful opportunities to volunteer with these and many other organizations working year-round to make a difference in our communities. From one neighbor to another, thanks for doing your part.
A portion of the proceeds from DownCity's holiday shopping page also support charity. You can also help the UN World Food Program receive a donation by visiting The Hunger Site.
Bethsaida Community is the sponsor of The Katie Blair House in Norwich, a transitional living program for homeless single women. The house offers a supportive home environment that can accommodate up to eight women at a time. By its tenth anniversary in 2000, over 100 women will have made their home there for periods from six months to two years.
The women who choose to invest their time and effort in this program have come through difficult circumstances, but are strongly motivated to make significant changes in their lives. Despite histories of abuse, addiction, and mental or physical illness, 75% of these women succeed in reaching their goals.
Bethsaida Community, Inc.DownCity Managing Partner Joyce Thomas is a past member of the Bethsaida Board of Directors.
Literacy Volunteers of America serves adults who have low level reading and writing skills (0-6th grade) or have limited English proficiency. The LVA program provides one-on-one tutoring for adult learners needing assistance in reading, writing, and speaking English, while offering flexibility so that adult learners can continue to meet work, job-seeking, and family obligations. An adult learner works toward measurable goals, assisted by his or her assigned tutor, who is trained professionally through the LVA-sanctioned training program. The program is free of charge to adult learners.
Not only do these adult learners leave the program with improved skills, but their pride and perseverance, responsibility, initiative, and independence make our community stronger.
Literacy Volunteers of America of SE CTWindham Area Interfaith Ministry (WAIM), an agency funded through Windham Region United Way, redistributes clothing, household goods and furniture to the low income community. WAIM also offers fuel assistance and a wide variety of seasonal programs, fundraisers and outreach activities designed to assist people in making a good life for themselves.
WAIM also sponsors an Adopt-A-Family program, which matches donors from the community with families who have experienced a crisis this year and cannot provide a holiday celebration of their own. Donors usually provide food for a holiday meal, gifts for the family, a tree and/or decorations (if they are needed), or any combination of these. If you would like to become a donor, you can get together with your friends, your family, or your co-workers. DownCity staff are busy gathering items for the family we have adopted. To participate in the Adopt-A-Family program, please call WAIM (456-7270).
The Free Software Foundation has been an important factor in the development of the software on which much of the Internet runs, both directly and through advocacy of the GNU Public License.
Last Update: 25 Jan 00
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