Sandra J. Snyder, A Writing Portfolio

Dear Friend,

Did you ever look around your neighborhood wistfully and wish? Or just wonder? Wonder when someone might fix up that hurting house three doors down? Or when exactly the houses on your street happened to get so old anyway? Or maybe what a fresh coat of paint might do for that once-grand foursquare across the way? If not, can you imagine the involved emotions?

The truth is many folks really do want to give their homes the attention they deserve; after all, they see what we all see. But many of them struggle mightily, and sometimes making even a basic renovation commitment can prove impossible without help.

Unfortunately, when individual home repair is not achievable, neighborhoods suffer as well. Extended neglect puts entire communities at risk, because first impressions are often key to business investments, and safe housing is linked to an array of healthful outcomes.

In short, we’re all in this together!

NeighborWorks NEPA is reaching out to ask if you might put your community on your holiday shopping list – figuratively, of course. If you make the commitment, we’ll do all the shopping!

For a gift of just $25, we can buy a gallon of paint and redo an elderly neighbor’s porch. For $50, we can add the brushes and rollers. For $100, we can turn a gallon into a bucket and be well on our way to revitalizing an entire house!

Any size gift helps. We pool every dollar to help people like Maureen*, “83 years young” but, as you can understand, unable to climb ladders or tape walls anymore. Her limited income meant she could not afford contractors. So she reached out to NeighborWorks, and GENEROUS FOLKS LIKE YOU came through! You not only understand need, but you understand how sometimes fulfilling one need can benefit so many. Often what we do goes viral, so to speak. We paint one house, neighbors notice, and suddenly they’re seeking to do the same.

Veronica was in a similar predicament as Maureen. She’d lost her husband after nursing him through an extended illness and had neither the time nor the finances to take care of her house too. She felt embarrassed. When forced to live alone, she swallowed her pride and asked for help, which we were able to provide BECAUSE OF YOU.

Here at NeighborWorks, these stories forever repeat themselves. The neighbors depending on you are often elderly or physically disabled, but sometimes they’re struggling to establish themselves earlier in life, after having overcome trying personal circumstances. They are turning to us with increasing frequency, for help with a range of projects that, when completed, enrich not only themselves but those around them. We believe strongly in ripple effects!

Sadly, we often have to turn them away. We have an army of volunteers graciously giving their time, but we lack the funds to be everywhere we’re needed. So we put our neighbors on waiting lists for next year or the year after that. We’d like to shorten those waits – greatly. Our communities, frankly, stand to lose too much if we don’t. Some neighborhoods are dangerously close to the point of no return, so we’re coming to you with a real sense of urgency.

Can you help before it truly is too late? Will you consider a gift of any size today? Or, if your budget permits, can you become a NeighborWorks NEPA member? (See details below.) Your charitable contribution can go such a long way. Let’s roll up our sleeves together, then join and raise our hands with a collective pride in this, OUR community, where, unlike many other places in this country, folks tend to plant their flags and persist – come what may.We celebrate that fact. It means people are invested HERE, in our local future. Imagine how bright that future truly can look if we start now by investing a little bit more in each other.

Most sincerely,

President & CEO

* Names have been changed to preserve confidentiality for our clients.