Last night we celebrated at STRIDE’S annual event at Las Chicas Locas.

It was an incredible and inspiring evening that got our fund raising goal for 2009 off to a fantastic start with a total amount raised of…

$9,459.00

Please help us reach our goal to send Tenzin, Alejandra and Saurabh to college and help us raise a total of $50,000.00 this year.  This number will be enough for each student to attend a CUNY or SUNY for four years!

MAKE YOUR DONATION ON THE SIDE BAR TO THE RIGHT OF THIS POST!

We all know education isn’t cheap these days.

STRIDE  is providing college scholarships to NYC students.  Today, STRIDE has 3 students enrolled in the program.  Become a Stride Partner and root our students on over the next 3 years of high school as they work toward their goal of high school graduation and acceptance into college!

CLICK THE PAYPAL LINK BELOW TO DONATE AND/OR ATTEND OUR EVENT.

$65.00 GETS YOU IN THE DOOR!

CLICK ON THE MAKE A DONATION BUTTON ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE SCREEN TO PURCHASE YOUR ADVANCE TICKETS TODAY AND SAVE $15.00!!!

TICKET PRICE = $65.00

To all of our beloved STRIDE friends,

Don’t forget to RSVP to Stride’s 3rd annual fundraiser, June 16th from 7pm-10pm.  You can contact us at stridefoundation@gmail.com.

It will be an evening of cocktails, delicious food, friends and most importantly, an opportunity to make a difference. Aside from all of the above, we would like to announce the items up for silent auction. We are so grateful for the generosity of all of the individuals who have donated these amazing items! Browse through them now and get your heart set on at least two!!!

We look forward to seeing each and every one of you and having an incredible evening!

Sincerely,

Chloe and Sabina

SILENT AUCTION ITEMS (a preview – more surprise additions at the event!):

• Villetta Mimma Vittoria Vacation Rental in Southern Italy - family home of award winning songwriter, producer and recording artist Michael Castaldo                                                        http://www.villettamimmavittoria.com/
• Chisholm Collection - 20 Carat Smokey Quartz Emerald Cut Cocktail Ring on Sterling Silver from Jacqueline Rasco’s incredible jewelry line (value: $400.00)                                                                    http://chisholmcollection.com/index.html
• New York Red Bulls – Soccer Tickets (vs. New England Revolution) with free parking pass and 2 VIP passes for Bulls corner Pub, DATE: Friday, September 18th, 7:30pm (value: $200.00)                      http://web.mlsnet.com/t107/

• The Pearl Theater – 3-play subscriptions to The Pearl’s 2009-2010 Season (value: $300.00) http://www.pearltheatre.org/
• LifeLift for Women – Roberta Brenner, Chief Catalyst of LifeLift for Women – 2 hours of consultation and life coaching with Roberta – gain control, be a priority, live fully (value: $300.00)
• Dorrian’s Bar and Restaurant – sample New York’s finest Irish and American pub fare on the Upper East Side!  (value: $250.00)                                                                                                               http://www.dorrians.com/nyc/
• Spa Chakra - Hair Services with Designer Stylist Patrick Ferrara (value: $150.00)    http://www.spachakra.com/onfifth.htm
• Lancome Gift Basket - The Lancome Power System for anti-aging results which includes Genifique, High Resolution Eye Refill, High Resolution Night Refill and Oscillation Water-Resistant Mascara (value: $300.00) http://www.lancome-usa.com/

• The Colbert Report - 2 tickets to see Colbert taped live in NYC!   http://www.colbertnation.com/home

• Broadway Tickets – 2 tickets to see “The Little Mermaid”, July 1st at 8pm (value: $245)
  
• Mets Tickets (vs. St Louis) – INCREDIBLE SEATS in the VIP Gate at the Sterling level (Section 18/Row 11) (value: $550.00)     http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nym

Stride is now connected to Paypal and can accept credit card donations!

Be the first to use this brand new feature!!!

Click on the link below or on the DONATION link on our side bar!

Please join us in welcoming Stride’s most recent board member!

Andrea Gorlyn is the Director of Marketing for the LeFrak Organization, responsible for the ongoing development and marketing efforts of the firm’s extensive real estate portfolio.

Over the past five years at the firm, she has undertaken the marketing and promotion of several luxury apartment towers, high end hotels, Class A office space, restaurants, and a variety of other real estate development projects in the New York- New Jersey metropolitan area.

Andrea grew up in New York City, attending the Chapin School. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002 with a BA in Political Science. After working at L’Oreal USA for almost 2 years, she joined the LeFrak Organization in January 2004.

Andrea now brings her extensive marketing experience and professional background to the STRIDE Team. She looks forward to joining the Board and dedicating her time and efforts to such a special, inspirational initiative. She believes it is a wonderful way to show appreciation for the educational opportunities she has been so fortunate to have had in her life.

We’re thrilled to announce that Stride has welcomed its very first class of students into the program!  The selection process was extremely difficult because of the high quality of all of the participant’s applications.  Over the winter holiday, a panel of Stride leadership and Washington Irving faculty took on the task of reviewing the applications.  The application was comprised of 3 essays, 2 teacher recommendations and their high school transcripts.  It was a significant amount of work on top of their regular school commitments, which made their efforts even more impressive and illustrated their enthusiasm towards Stride’s program and their dedication to their education.

TENZIN

Tenzin was born in 1994 in Nepal and raised Tibet.  A Buddhist, she was named by Tenzin Gyasto, the 14th Dalai Lama.  His commitment to peace, honesty and love inspires her.  Tenzin’s goal is to become a doctor.  Her introduction to this field came through her grandfather, a Tibetan doctor, who practiced herbal medicine.  Tenzin and her family arrived in the United States in 2005.  While in Tibet, her sister passed away because she was unable to get the medical attention she needed.
I’ve heard many sad stories of many people’s lives in many countries because there was no doctor and no hospitals or any medical help.  Now I have the opportunity to get [a] good education to reach my goal in this country.  I have to work very hard and try my best to get a scholarship for college to have [a] good education so I can become a doctor.  I can also help people in poor countries; I want to tour some places that need medical help so that I can find out if they need doctors, medicine, medical tools or anything that is related to medicine.
FUN FACTS
-    Loves to garden
-    Dances with her friends to Tibetan songs
-    Likes to experiment with fashion
-    Enjoys listening to different music and plays multiple instruments including the piano and the Tibetan guitar

SAURABH

Saurabh was born in November 1994.  He was born in a city named Kathmandu, in Nepal.  Saurabh and his family immigrated to the Queens, New York in June of 2007.  At the age of 5, Saurabh discovered his love of computers. Today, Saurabh dreams of becoming a computer engineer. His uncle, who is a teacher at The Computer Institute in Nepal, inspires him.
[My uncle] is a unique man of unique thoughts.  He has a positive attitude towards everything…  His personal behavior is just significantly perfect…  I strongly feel that he is the kind of person I really want to be in my future, his feelings and disciplines are what I want to achieve as I progress towards my goal.  I want to succeed in life through hard work and sincerity just like he did.
FUN FACTS
-    Loves to sing traditional Nepalese songs
-    Very optimistic
-    A CRAZY guitar fan
-    Enjoys being creative on many different levels
-    Has a thoughtful nature

ALEJANDRA

Alejandra was born in January 1994.  Her family is from Mexico and she still has very strong roots there.  Before high school, Alejandra’s career goal was to become a psychologist.  She was interested in helping people with their problems and wanted to boost their self-confidence.  However, after a semester at Washington Irving, she discovered her true passion: education.  Inspired by her global history teacher, Mr. Dakarae, she realized that she wants to become a NYC high school teacher and ultimately a principal. She believes that children are the future and would like to help kids like her find the necessary resources to achieve in life
Going to college is very important to me because I see how the people who go to college learn a lot.  College is also very important because many immigrants think that we can’t get a good college education… If I can be successful they can do it to.  It would also be a way to prove to other people and [to] family, but most important to myself, that immigrants can do it.
FUN FACTS
-    Dancing is her favorite thing to do
-    Likes playing the piano
-    A really social personality
-    Has a cheerful disposition

Happy New Year to all!

We’re only a couple of days into 2009 and Stride would like to kick off the New Year with some excellent news.  We promised all of you that the generous donations made in 2008 would be tax deductible despite the fact that we hadn’t yet been granted 501(c)(3) status by the government.  You trusted us, or perhaps you believed in Stride’s mission enough for it not to matter.  Regardless, over the past two years, we’ve raised close to $20,000 entirely on the confidence and good faith of many of you.  Today, we can happily report that Stride is officially exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and officially classified as a public charity!!!

Let me take a moment to explain exactly what that means: all donations made within the past calendar year to STRIDE will be fully tax-exempt, meaning that both individuals and institutions can claim deductions on their tax balances.  Additionally, this finally gives STRIDE the opportunity to reach out for institutional funding from corporations and foundations – as well as apply for grants that can continue to support our pursuit of providing college scholarship support for kids who desperately need it at Washington Irving High School.  Please contact us if you lost or did not receive a receipt for your donation in 2008 at stridefoundation@gmail.com

This is excellent news and gives us high hopes for our fund raising goals this year.  Our first class of students will be entering the program in mere weeks and we are collectively working to give these kids the chance they’re dreaming about: getting a college education and pursuing their academic dreams.  There will be more updates as we select the inaugural three students for the program.  In the meantime, let’s look forward with high hopes towards what 2009 will be – each of us have the power to make it a strong, successful and important year.

Sincerely,

Chloe Kaplan, President

STRIDE has teamed up with a new after school program at Washington Irving called Think College Now.  Think College Now is a non-profit component of the umbrella education program, Next Steps.  Washington Irving’s top 25 academically eligible freshman were accepted into the Think College Now program at the end of October (the selection committee included Washington Irving faculty, Next Steps and Stride leadership).

The Think College Now program meets twice a week and is and after school class that provides academic enrichment, giving students the foundation for scholastic success.  Out of these 25 students, Stride will choose 5 recipients of the scholarship and welcome them into the program.  Over the next few weeks’ students will be working on their applications and beginning their pursuit of a college education.  They have a Stride application submission deadline of December 15th at which point the scholarship selection committee will review and select the very first Stride participants!  By mid January we will announce the recipients of the Stride Scholarship and give each of you an opportunity to connect and support these students in helping them to reach their academic goals over the next 4 years.

One of the many ways you can show your support is through our mentor program.  Spearheading the mentor program is our newest member of the Stride Team, Roberta Brenner.  Roberta brings to the position a strong and relevant professional background as well as innate skills of connecting with and inspiring others to be their best.  She is currently a life coach and Chief Catalyst of LifeLift for Women.  Before becoming a coach she spent over 20 years as manager director of her own executive search firm, Roberta Brenner Associates, Inc.  Roberta says she is thrilled to have this opportunity to give back and play a key role in such a worthwhile initiative. She is looking forward to recruiting and working with talented and dedicated mentors for the Program.

To find out more about how you can be a mentor, please stay tuned for a recruitment letter from Roberta to follow in the coming days!!!

To find out more about STRIDE or to donate, please contact stridefoundation@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Chloe Kaplan and Sabina Breece

NEXT STEPS PROGRAM INFORMATION

Click on the link to find out more about Next Steps – a division of the Union Square Partnership Education Program.