Living the “Practical Dream”

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”                                     By Walt Disney

Anne G. Broady Scholarship Fund

AGBSF  Goal:  $1,500.00    Actual: $1,530.00     Deadline: February 14, 2020    VICTORY!!!

I am thrilled to report our “Victory”.  The Anne G. Broady Scholarship Fund reached its goal this week ahead of schedule for the fourth straight year. We are excited about this victory because this means more than a dozen boys and girls needing tuition assistance will attend the Copey Learning Center this year.

“Friends”, you have provided the Copey families a very special gift. This gift will impact the lives of sons and daughters. This is a gift families would love to pay back but is not possible given their economic conditions. You and I wonder at times how can only $1,500.00 make a difference. I can assure you that in rural Costa Rica this scholarship fund is considered a significant act of generosity.

I am both proud and honored that we “Friends” from the east coast to the west coast, are that trusted and reliable source of generosity. Most of the other rural regions of the country lack a “Friends of Copey” group committed to be a dedicated and devoted supporter every day of the year.

Join me this week celebrating the “Victory” we have earned. Several moms and dads in Copey today are happier and less worried about the future of their sons and daughters.

Executive Director Salary Support

EDSS Goal: $2,000.00  Actual: $750.00  Deadline: March 13, 2020

Progress continues although slowly at this time. This is a far more challenging fundraising campaign. There are more funds needed than the scholarship campaign. Plus, it is not part of our normal DNA to generously support an administrative cost. But, I see this cost differently. The Copey Learning Center has only one paid staff member and relies solely on volunteers to support the educational work of the center.

Many of us from the field of education and from the commercial and business world, know that strong leadership is not a luxury but a critical element of any operation’s success. Ships need captains, teams need coaches, businesses need presidents, and even churches need ministers to help achieve success. The Copey Learning Center must have competent leadership.  Without competent leadership, our generous support for scholarships may be very questionable or even unwise. We must consider the Executive Director Salary Support as our “consumer protection plan”. I am calling on all “Friends” who have not yet responded to help us keep this support going.

As has been our six plus years of fundraising policy, “Friends” will not request financial support if there is a serious question of real need.

Relocation of the Copey Learning Center

The most recent news regarding the relocation of the Copey Learning Center in 2020 indicates some agreements have been reached with a local facility for the housing of the Copey Learning Center. There are some final details still being worked on.

All this reminds us of the vision we have for a new facility in Copey that would be someday the permanent home of the Copey Learning Center. Education is too important to rely on poorly constructed or substandard facilities to be the beacon of quality educational pursuits.

In 2020, I am going to encourage all “Friends” to strive to become “practical dreamers”.  We are capable of doing and accomplishing things beyond the belief of many around us. We can all dream that a new Copey Learning Center could be in our future. This is our “dream learning center”.

Now remember, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were originally just everyday people, lacking any significant formal education, and essentially financially poor the day they each woke up with their own vision. But, they were determined, committed, willing, and faithful to their vision in the face of extraordinary opposition. Much of the same can be said of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. They each were “practical dreamers” who spent very little time imagining their dreams were “impossible” to achieve.   

We, “Fiends”, are certainly not in the same league of these giant dreamers but we do have some things in common. We are “practical dreamers”, determined, and committed to supporting this learning center and we know dreams do come true…big ones and smaller ones. “Practical dreamers do make a difference!”.