Happy Holidays everyone!
As we near the end of 2011 we are touched by how many people have helped us at Pajama Program comfort the children with new pajamas and new books this year. On Dec. 21 alone, we were able to send out more than 100 boxes from just one of our sites -- our NYC Reading Center/Headquarters -- and we're still at it all over the U.S. So many of you have helped us grow and work harder and faster every year to reach more and more children in need. Your encouragement has fueled us to set our goals higher and higher. We know with your help we'll be able to give more of these children a desperately needed bedtime hug in the form of warm, cozy pajamas and a book for reading practice... reminding them that they are not forgotten.
Several years ago my husband found the words to keep me centered when I didn't know how we would manage to reach even a percentage of the children on our wait list for pajamas and books. I have shared these words with family and friends and now I'd like to share them with you:
FOR THE CHILDREN
We shall walk, hand in hand, the pathways of light to reach the children who have been neglected, orphaned and abandoned.
We shall be the inspiration to uplift their heavy hearts and foster the smile of hope that they so rightly deserve to wear upon their precious faces.
We shall read them marvelous stories to expand their imagination, and return the wonder to their eyes.
We shall nurture their hearts with caring, open their minds with books and comfort them with warm cozy pajamas for bedtime to lessen their dreaded fear of not belonging.
We shall encourage them to dream their dreams filled with desire and the magic of possibilities.
We shall take comfort in knowing that we have touched the children deeply, tendered their gentle souls and sown the seeds of love that they so desperately needed.
We will be filled with an inexplicable joy knowing that in giving we truly made a difference. And when the sun sets upon our mission, we will all have moved together through the darkness and awakened to a brighter day.
And on that day, the children will belong to themselves, walking hand in hand as one with us the pathways of light, reaching out to the neglected, the orphaned and the abandoned.
Demo DiMartile for the Pajama Program
I wish you all a beautiful holiday season.
Sweet dreams,
Genevieve