My daughter, who has benefited in so many ways from her experience living in Japan, is now a master third grade teacher at the newest elementary school in Bend, Oregon. She received and forwarded the following letter to us this afternoon. I will send a donation and I thought I'd pass it along. If there is anyone reading his blog who agrees with it and who would like to help this young man realize his dream, the information is at the end of the note. In our times, it is more and more difficult for single parents to provide opportunities for this kind of extra opportunity when just meeting day to day essentials are often a challenge. This young man has tackled learning one of the most difficult foreign languages offered. It would be wonderful if he could see a payoff for all his hard work. Obviously he is putting his sweat equity into it as well as the study time that went into the book and extra study time to get to the level where he is. Here is the letter from a former mentor at the high school he attended in Bend, Summit High School.
According to the contact at Bend's Summit High School, the funds must be presented to the sponsor by Mid March. Thank you for your consideration.
Ken
Dear Community Member,
It is my honor to introduce you to a special guy named Jeff Chavez. I met Jeff two years ago through my work at Summit High School and have very much enjoyed getting to know this quiet, gentle young man.
Jeff comes from a low-income family and lives in a small apartment with his mother, but that doesn't keep him from dreaming big. Despite having never traveled farther than the Oregon coast, Jeff has long held a passion for Japanese language and culture. He started taking Japanese at his high school in 2008 and is now in level three and continuing to excel.
Because of his obvious commitment to all things Japanese, Jeff is included in an exclusive group of high school students invited to travel to Japan this summer. The three-week trip includes living with a host family, attending the local high school, and visiting various museums and cultural centers.
Undeterred by his family's lack of financial resources, Jeff has been working constantly to earn the funds needed for the trip. This summer Jeff earned nearly $1500 cleaning up parks and building trails with YCC. Despite his best efforts, Jeff is still several hundred dollars short of the $2300 needed to pay for the trip. He continues to look for work to pay for the funds, but as payment deadlines approach, Jeff is going to need some help from the others in this community.
Please consider supporting this young man as he attempts to significantly expand his worldview with this once in a lifetime experience, either through hiring him to do odd jobs (he's up for just about anything) or through a direct donation to his travel fund. While times are hard for everyone right now, even a small donation will help significantly.
If you'd like to support Jeff, checks can be made out to Summit High School. I'd be happy to pick them up or they can be mailed to:
Summit High School, ATTN: Chrissi Wright
2855 NW Clearwater Drive
Bend, OR 97701
Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth Fenter
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