#jessicasutherland

Found this in an old wallet just now. Just a few weeks after meeting James at the Union Rescue Mission’s “Mondays at the Mission,” he’d jumped through all of my hoops and I took him on a mentorship outing. Over breakfast, I discovered that he didn’t have the school supplies he needed, including a graphing calculator, and that he planned to take the SAT without any prep through his school. After we went to Staples, we went to the nearby Barnes and Noble and we got him some test prep materials and some writing books, and then, if I remember correctly, we went to lunch, because we’d worked up an appetite after getting lost in Culver City and doing all that shopping.

May 2012. He was a junior in high school, living in a Skid Row shelter with his family. Now, 2.5 years later, he’s a sophomore at Howard University, and I had dinner at his family’s new home last Sunday without him. He and his family are my family now.

I had no idea, when James and I first met, that we’d be forever bonded in our efforts to better ourselves and the life of others. I’m so glad he sent me that email, asking for help, on the day I spoke at Mondays at the Mission. That one action changed both of our lives, and led to the path of us changing others through our work with Homeless to Higher Ed.

Please consider supporting our efforts to normalize the college experience for homeless students through a tax-deductible donation, easily made at www.homelesstohighered.org. We now have two more homeless students in our little family, and we are committed to supporting them so they make it to graduation day—87% of homeless college students never do.

Not on my watch.

Stumbled upon this video from Angela Rae this past May. It made me smile, and she drops some great wisdom. Share your testimony.

How cool is it that my local Cleveland Browns Backers chapter is sponsoring Homeless to HigherEd this season? Almost took the sting out of that loss against the Steelers.

Just thought I’d let you all know that Student Zero, James Ward, is safe and sound in his sophomore year at Howard University. He’s just changed his major and career focus. After a year with our new nonprofit and some summer work with another, James has decided to forge a career where he can effect real change in our country, and is now a political science major, with plans to attend law school.

Thanks to the press we’ve received, more and more homeless college students are reaching out to us for help, telling their stories for what is often the first time. We can’t yet help them all as much as we’d like, but we have identified Student One and Student Two so far, and are excited to help them both as they start college this year. Thank you for your continued support of #homelesstohoward and #HomelessToHigherEd. We couldn’t do what we do without your continued generosity.

http://homelesstohighered.org/donate-request-help/

You asked for it, we delivered!  

Don't want to use PayPal?  That's okay! 

Please make checks payable to:

Homeless To/Higher Ed

PO Box 1855

Studio City, CA 91614

The bonus of sending a check?  We get to keep every penny, and don't have to pay any service fees.

Thanks as always for your support and generosity.

Homeless to Higher Ed is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation dedicated to normalizing the college experience for the over 58,000 homeless college students in American universities.  Completely volunteer-driven, with no paid salaries, H2H raises awareness about the barriers to higher education facing our nation’s poorer students, while providing guidance, resources, and assistance to American students who need it most.

Last year, before James' loans were declined, I celebrated my 34th birthday back in my hometown...a day I never thought I'd see...with a low-key fundraiser.  All told, my friends and family raised $530 for James, with the intent of surprising him with it, so he could use it for random things kids tend to forget but still need.  That's my beloved Grandma and me choosing the 50-50 raffle winner.   When I later found out his loans were declined, I remember crying...I was so stupid to think that all he would need might be covered by this small amount of money.  Eventually, though, we found a way, when this Tumblr found its way to the screens of so many generous folks.

34, the year I thought I'd never see, has been, hands down, the best of my life.  From riding a motorcycle for only the second time since my father died on one in 1986, to getting James to college with #HomelessToHoward, to People Magazine, to launching a nonprofit to help other homeless kids...this has been one heck of a year...35 will be even better, right?

Of course it will be...James is fully-funded for all four years, and together, we now have a charity devoted to helping kids like him, like me.

So, in the spirit of that little hopeful birthday fundraiser, and all that's come since then, I hope you'll consider making a small donation to Homeless to Higher Ed, a 501(c)3 tax exempt public charity.  

We only need $325 more dollars to match the $530 raised in 2013.

Happy birthday to me.  Thanks for reading.  I'm sorry I'm always asking you guys for money.

I miss my Grandma.