Need some help to give help

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Raymond J. Kane and I am an advisor at North Middlesex Regional High School in Townsend. I, along with a group of 35 highly qualified students and faculty chaperones, am taking part in our school’s second annual community service learning trip to New Orleans, La., for the week of April 18- 26.

On this trip, we will be working and residing in the Upper and Lower Ninth Ward, a community entirely devastated by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, sustaining almost 100 percent devastation.

Our efforts will be in collaboration with an organization called Common Ground Collective. While in New Orleans, we will be helping in any and every way possible, including but not limited to tearing down walls and gutting houses, rebuilding homes that have been gutted, and working with children in a local elementary school.

We did this same work and more in June 2007 when we brought 24 students to the Ninth Ward and dedicated over 1,400 hours of work in a week’s time. Our group has chosen to work in this community due to the continued and extensive need for help. We refuse to forget the people that make this community truly wonderful.

Although we are working together to raise the money needed to travel to New Orleans, it is still a great undertaking. Each student is required to raise $700 and is encouraged to try and raise more. It is very difficult to raise the $22,400 required, but we have been hard at work for months on bake sales, silent auctions, spaghetti suppers, comedian nights and much more.

These efforts have been extremely successful; however, we were recently dealt a set-back when booking the flights. The flights cost a total of approximately $23,000, and this leaves us with many more expenses which will necessitate an increase in each student’s contribution.

This airline increase is due to various factors, but a great piece is the rise in fuel costs. The entire amount is double the amount of money paid last year for flights and is proving to be a daunting issue.

For this reason we are asking for your help. Any financial assistance or news reports writing of these difficulties you are able to provide would be greatly appreciated. North Middlesex Regional High School’s Service Learning Trip is a nonprofit organization and therefore all donations are tax deductible.

If you have any questions you may e-mail me at rkane@nmiddlesex.mec.edu. Thank you for your help and consideration. Any help that you can give is much appreciated.

Sincerely,

RAYMOND J. KANE

NMRHS Advisor