Living Arts Weekly: Thankfulness

November 29, 2020

Dear Friends,

It is our wish that this letter will find you in a place of hope and strength, navigating the dramatic times we are experiencing and looking forward to opening vistas that may have arisen in your life due to an extended pause.

We are thankful for the lessons we have learned during this challenging time, and also grateful that LifeWays continues to be healthy as an organization and reaching individuals and groups around the world.  We have created a few new online courses to support parents and teachers specifically dealing with major changes in their programs and homes.  We will continue to do our best to keep our finger on the pulse of what is most needed by our LifeWays community.

At the same time, we are continuing to work with the in-person students we had when the whole world changed!  We are actually graduating our San Francisco Bay students in person in early December and hoping to finish with our Florida students in the spring.  They have been stellar in hanging in there when we had to discontinue our in-person classes for several months.

Some of our students lost their jobs due to closures, and we were so grateful for our financial assistance funds that allowed us to offer assistance to those who had to lower their tuition payments.  These funds also supported us in enrolling over thirty people in our two new Fundamentals Course programs and our next San Francisco Bay Area group.  Thank you for helping to make that possible.

We are also grateful to have been able to offer three scholarships specifically designated for Black students who could not have afforded to join us otherwise.  As with many organizations right now, we are continuing to focus on racial equity and how our content serves diversity in early childhood programs and homes.

Here we are near the turning of a new year, and we ask that, if you are participating in giving financial support to any organizations this year, you will once again consider LifeWays.  We hear consistently from our students and course participants, and others who follow us through our newsletters, blog and other outreach, that we are a shining light for them now.  We want to continue to be so.

In gratitude for your donations of any amount through the end of the year, we’ll send you a link to our December Visioning Course – a self-guided tutorial to help you envision a holiday season that uplifts and inspires you. Click here to donate securely online.  If you prefer to send a check, please send it to LifeWays North America and mail it to 9648 Linda Rio Drive, Sacramento, CA 95827.

 

Sending loving blessings at this sacred time of year,

Cynthia Aldinger

For the LifeWays Board