Nuestro Mundo Community School fourth-grader Roya Olivares sent this picture to Helping Hands.
ROYA OLIVARES
Teachers and students: Would you like to help someone in need? Do you know someone who needs a little cheer?
Helping Hands, the Wisconsin State Journal’s letter-writing program, can help you do that.
Here’s how it works: As it does each year, the newspaper is inviting students under 18 to write a brief letter about someone in their community who could use a helping hand during the holidays.
Students should explain what they would do if they had $200 to help someone else. It can be a friend, neighbor, community member, family or another student.
Helping Hands coordinators will choose some of these letters and help carry out those plans to help. And the selected entries, edited for length and to avoid identifying recipients, will be published in the State Journal in December.
Teachers, we encourage you to send in your students’ letters. Helping Hands does not make donations to organizations, but rather to individuals and families, so please keep that in mind as you write your letter. The letters are carefully screened to make sure these gifts are being sent to people who are among those who need them the most.
Over the years, Helping Hands and our letter writers have made the holidays brighter for countless area residents.
Here’s how to submit a letter to Helping Hands:
Email your letter to helpinghands@madison.com, or mail it to: Helping Hands, Attn: Kelly Lecker, Wisconsin State Journal, 1901 Fish Hatchery Road, Madison, WI 53713. Families, classes or other groups may submit entries individually or in a single envelope.
Include the following: The writer’s first and last names, age, grade, school and community/city name, plus a parent/guardian’s name, email address and phone number in case we have questions. Teachers and group leaders, please include your name, email address and phone number so we can contact you.
The deadline for entries is Friday, Nov. 20. All emails and postal mail should be received by that date.
The Helping Hands program is supported by the State Journal’s Empty Stocking Club and the generosity of our readers. To support Helping Hands, please donate online at emptystockingclub.com or mail a check to Empty Stocking Club, Wisconsin State Journal, 1901 Fish Hatchery Road, Madison, WI 53713, and write “Helping Hands” in the memo line.
Kelly Lecker is the executive editor of the Wisconsin State Journal.
