November 14, 2011 Dear Parents, There is a holiday buzz in the 6th grade hallway as students are beginning

to get excited about traveling, catching up with relatives, and having 3 weeks ahead with no homework! Unfortunately for many needy families in the Philippines, the holiday season does not hold much excitement or promise as they struggle to fulfill even the most basic needs over the holiday period. In addition to our grade-level end of semester party this year where we will celebrate with our community, grade six has decided to help some of the less-fortunate members of our community the families at PCF, which is one of our service learning partnerships. PCF stands for the Philippine Community Fund (formally known as the Philippine Christian Foundation) and works to improve the quality of life for the poorest Filipino communities. Grade 6 has decided to sponsor 24 PCF families who struggle to survive during the months of December and January. Each class is sponsoring three needy families; some families lost virtually everything during Typhoon Pedring. The home bases will create food parcels for families to help them manage over the holiday period. We know that this year many of you have already given generously to many charities; we respect your decision whether or not to participate in the donations for PCF for the holidays. If your family would like to help out with the holiday parcels, your child will be responsible for bringing in certain supplies from the list below. We ask that you let them shop with you for these items, so they can become active participants in service learning. They will also be provided with profiles of families that they are helping. We are trying to keep the parcels as uniform as possible so that there is equity between families. We appreciate you finding supplies similar to the item description below. The supplies for the holiday parcels will need to be in by Monday, December 5th, so that we can prepare them for delivery on Thursday, December 8th. Approximate food supplies for a family of 6-8 people:

Amount 12 8 5 6 20 3 8 8 3 16 4 3

Item Canned meat products 55 grams 4 Corned Beef, 4 Sardines & 4 Tuna UHT carton of whole milk (1liter) Bag of rice (2 kilo) Package of coffee (Nescafe-3 in 1 mixture) 10 pieces per bag Instant noodles Lucky Me brand Bottle of cooking oil (1liter) Susan Baker Canola Oil Canned vegetables approximately 420 grams Cans of Fruit approximately 432 grams Bag of Sugar (1 kilo per bag) 8 packets of tomato sauce 250 grams and 8 packets of tomato paste 70 grams Cookies- in a tin can Small stuffed animals in good condition

We appreciate your generosity and guidance with this service project. Your children and their teachers are excited about making a real difference in the lives of others this holiday season. Thank you! With kindest regards, The Grade 6 Community I, ______________________, am responsible for bringing in the following to help sponsor a family. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________