“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something… My faith demands that I do whatever I can. Wherever I am. Whenever I can. For as long as I can with whatever I have, to try to make a difference.” Jimmy Carter
December 2023
We are pleased to share SGF’s annual end-of-summer camp scholarship update and ask for your generosity as we get ready for 2024.
SGF’s Mission: Throughout its 22-year history, SGF’s mission has remained constant: to enable children who are refugees, experiencing homelessness, or exposed to violence or abuse to take part in enriching summer camp experiences – the kind so many of us have always taken for granted.
2023 Camp Scholarship Wrap-Up: Once again, SGF made an impact on the lives and well-being of many children, providing camp scholarships totaling $61,398.50 that allowed 15 children to attend a total of 74 weeks of camp.
Since its founding in 2001, SGF has disbursed a total of $1,420,004.67 in summer camp scholarships, allowing 769 children to attend a total of 3,080.5 weeks of camp. Not bad for an all-volunteer endeavor with no paid staff and no fixed office (thus, essentially no overhead)!
Expanding Connections: Over the past two decades, SGF has established, nurtured, and maintained treasured partnerships with local social service agencies, domestic violence organizations, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF), and selected day and overnight camps in the greater New England area whose programs welcome SGF campers.
In addition, over the last several months, we have been approached by new (to us) agencies that serve children and families living with adversity. We were delighted to discover that a case worker in one of our newest partner agencies is actually an original SGF Kid Corps member (and was one of Steve’s friends)! Stay tuned for next year’s letter, which will include information about children served by this newest SGF partnership, among others. The circle reaches around and hugs us all tightly!
Looking Ahead: Children, their parents and caregivers, housing and domestic violence advocates, and camp staff tell us that safe and enriching summer camp experiences are absolutely essential for the children we serve. We remain hopeful that the summer of 2024 will bring some measure of healing and stability to the world so that all children can engage fully with their essential tasks of physical, social, and emotional growth and development.
To do the best we can to help address an anticipated surge of requests for 2024, we need your help now more than ever. Especially because of an influx of refugees into New England and surrounding areas, and rising costs for just about everything, SGF needs to work harder than ever to raise the funds we need to offer scholarships to as many deserving children as possible.
Why Donate to SGF? People tell us they support SGF for three reasons:
- Because of what we do: SGF does just one thing: we provide summer camp scholarships for children who have experienced homelessness, who are refugees, or who have been exposed to child abuse/neglect, domestic violence, or other trauma. SGF funding is the only way most of these kids can go to camp;
- Because of how we do it: SGF continues to operate as a small, responsive, all-volunteer foundation that is honest and wholly transparent. By helping children, we also support their caregivers and the communities in which they live; and
- Because they wish to keep Steve’s memory alive by honoring and supporting his values. We continue to be heartened – and, at times, frankly astonished – by the impact this kid named Steve continues to have on others. Keep the stories and memories coming!
As you well know, we communicate primarily (and also infrequently) by email in order to respect your time, conserve donor dollars, and save trees. We don't send out repeated emails or costly postal mailings, nor do we make phone calls that interrupt your privacy. This email is our only formal fundraising appeal and will not be repeated until this time next year. For all these reasons, we ask only that you do your best to respond as generously as you can.
In addition to our end-of-year appeal, SGF welcomes donations made at any time in celebration or honor of a person or occasion, in remembrance of those who have passed on, disbursements from donor-advised funds, gifts of appreciated stock, and bequests. Donations are acknowledged on the SGF website and by postal or electronic means to the honoree or bereaved family (as well as to the donor).
So, as yet another tumultuous year approaches its end, SGF asks humbly for your generous support. With your help, and only with your help, we can improve the lives of real children and real families in tangible and meaningful ways. To the extent that you can include the Steve Glidden Foundation in your 2023 charitable giving, we would be enormously grateful.
How to Help:
To donate by check, please mail your contribution to:
Steve Glidden Foundation
58 Westminster Rd.
Newton Centre MA 02459
To donate by credit card or direct bank transfer, please select one of the options below:
- PayPal Giving Fund: Those who have an existing PayPal account (or who sign up for one) can donate using the PayPal Giving Fund (which is its own 501(c)3 entity and thus handles all tax-related acknowledgements). Because there are no service or transaction fees to you (the donor) or to SGF (the recipient), SGF receives 100% of the amount donated when donations are made through the PayPal Giving Fund.
- Venmo: SGF’s Venmo username is @SteveGliddenFoundation, our email address is sgf@stevegliddenfoundation.org, and the last four digits of our phone number are 5784.
- Regular PayPal: Donations, including monthly or recurring donations, can be made through PayPal.com. Since donations made this way go directly to SGF, the tax acknowledgement to the donor would come from SGF.
Gifts of appreciated securities and bequests can also be arranged. Please contact us directly at sgf@stevegliddenfoundation.org to organize this method of giving prior to the year-end tax deadline.
SGF is a registered 501(c)3 charity. Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law and will be acknowledged accordingly.
Our Ongoing Pledge: We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that your donations are safeguarded prudently and used judiciously to benefit deserving children. We also thank you for making a difference in our own lives for the past 22 years, and for enabling SGF to help so many others.
We close our end-of-year appeal with the two beautiful statements that we offered last year, which are still as timely as ever. The first is by Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer, who was murdered in an act of hate in Charlottesville, VA in 2017. The second quote is from the Dalai Lama:
“The impact this has had on so many people – I guess I can bear it for that. Perhaps the world will be a better place because of it.”
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”
What a fraught year this has been. We at SGF hope you and your loved ones are staying safe, being kind, and facing forward – towards a brighter future for all. Steve’s short but well-lived life has indeed transformed tragedy into opportunity. With your help, his memory will continue to be a blessing for those in need.
May 2024 bring good health and prosperity to everyone you hold dear, along with stability, reason, tolerance, kindness, and peace to this troubled world.
With enormous gratitude,
Your SGF Trustees,
Elaine Alpert, Bill Marsh, Sarah Glidden, Dan Glidden,
and (soon to turn 106) Lillian Alpert
