$10,000 Goal Reached!

Good news, folks! Thanks to all of your generosity we reached the $5,000 fundraising goal for our first Give Ozarks Day campaign. We really appreciate all of you who donated online or mailed checks or brought your donation to our office. The $5,000 raised will be matched by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. The total of $10,000 raised will be used to initiate our endowment fund, ensuring that NALA will be around in the future to carry out our mission on solid financial footing. Thank you for your gifts!

You would have enjoyed talking to one of our ESL students when she came in to donate to Give Ozarks Day. She said, “I am so happy that people don’t have to say ‘What?’ when I talk now. They understand me, and I owe it all to NALA. I would give a hundred times more [than my gift] so show my appreciation to NALA.”

Another student wrote recently: “ Until I came to NALA, I struggled with reading and especially with writing. Through help and motivation from my tutor, I have had great improvement in both skills. I am truly thankful for the opportunity to learn. I appreciate all the time my tutor has put into helping me.”

Still another student wrote: “I read 75 pages last night. I never knew what people meant by ‘I couldn’t put the book down.’ Now I understand.”

Knowing that we’re reaching people who have nowhere else to turn is gratifying. That gratification is intensified when we witness changed lives—the difference that improved reading makes for the young man who wants a promotion at work—the difference that fluent speaking makes for the student from another country. And the difference in a woman’s life who finally can read so well she can’t put the book down!

Thank you for caring that adults get another chance to improve their lives through literacy.