Thursday, April 3, 2008

Dear Friends,

First, let me say “thank you” to everyone who helped my students get to participate in last year’s Playin’ in Carolina Project. In case anyone wasn’t sure just how big of a difference your contribution made, on a daily basis I have personally witnessed the changes in these guys due to the experiences they had last summer.

In June of last year, four young men were able to participate in the following activities:

  1. They attended basketball camp at the University of South Carolina.
  2. They made a presentation at Virginia Tech for the victims of the shooting last spring.
  3. They visited Atlanta, Ga. where they went to a Braves game, toured the CNN Center, the World of Coke, the Georgia Aquarium, and visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Center.
  4. They visited Charleston, SC where they toured Ft. Sumter, went to the beach and toured a plantation.
  5. Before leaving Columbia, SC, they toured the state capital building and the football facilities at the University of South Carolina.

This year we are hoping to make the trip even bigger. The four students from last year will be returning along with two new male students. We are excited to be adding two female students to the trip this year as well. We will be in the Carolinas from June 14-July 2, 2008.

The details have yet to be finalized but right now we hope that each student gets to do the following:

  1. Visit Atlanta and Charleston and enjoy some of the same things we did last year.
  2. Boys will attend football and basketball camp.
  3. Girls will attend basketball and volleyball or track and field camp.
  4. Perform some type of community service/cultural awareness activity.
  5. Students will visit a minimum of three college campuses during their visit.

Participants range in grade level from rising 8th-10th graders. The students who were chosen are children that do pretty well in school and have shown a commitment to athletics. These students seldom have behavior issues and all have shown a willingness to serve our school community. The final factor considered was that I tried to choose kids that I felt might otherwise not have the opportunity to travel very far out of our state or region.

Because we are expanding in numbers and activities this year, we will need even more help to make all this happen. This year’s estimated budget is between $18,000 - $21,000. Each returning participant will contribute $350 towards the cost of the trip. New participants will contribute $250. This contribution, combined with funds we already have due to last year’s kindness will get us off to a solid start. However, we can’t get this done without you. Every single gift received last year went a long way in making the project possible. I really hope that we are able to make it even better this year. Thanks again for your support and prayers.

Sincerely-

Marcus McGill

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