Dear Shepherds Friends,

The month of April normally brings many positive themes to our attention –  longer days, warmer sun, birds chirping early in the morning, and a budding optimism for the coming months. This year obviously brings all those normal occurrences but with the added cautious optimism of a world recovering from a pandemic health crisis.

For our Shepherds students and community, this spring also brings the opportunity to be back in the classroom more, to engage in team sports, and for students and mentors to see each other in outdoor settings.  We again congratulate our students, their families, mentors, our school partners for the good faith effort all put into making this past year as successful as one could hope.

With that renewed sense of optimism and self-confidence, it’s time to call upon on this collective strength of the Shepherds community to help build for the school year 2021 – 2022.  As you might realize from the financial and personal repercussions of the last year, the need for a quality education in a safe environment, for a positive role model in the life of a young person and the support of an organization where the 14 year old high school student is the “franchise player” has rarely been greater.

What I am asking is simply to invite our Shepherds family to spread the word about what Shepherds does, the opportunity it provides to underserved individuals, the impact it makes “changing lives”, and the rewards it bestows on students, mentors and donors alike.  Being part of the Shepherds team does require tangible effort and resources; the rewards, however, are immeasurable intangibles!

We are now interviewing over 15 students and expect more to be seeking to participate in Shepherds’ Class of 2025.  We are seeking mentors and financial resources to meet that demand. The Shepherds’ story sells itself. Thank you for passing it along.

With your assistance we can again prove that We are Better Together, in every sense and application of those words.