Invest in the Future of Kids like Amber
“At Operation Shoestring, I felt at home and like I could really be myself!”
Amber Jones shared this with us a few weeks ago. Amber, now in her mid-20s, was part of Shoestring’s afterschool and summer programs for five consecutive years in the late 1990s and early 2000s when she was in elementary school.
The Shoestring family embraced Amber’s abundant energy and helped her learn how to channel it into things she really wanted to do and that she was clearly good at doing. And while she was no academic slouch—she went on to much success in Jackson Public Schools’ highly-regarded Academic and Performing Arts Complex program—it was in dance and music that she thrived.
In fact, Amber was introduced to choreographed dance at Operation Shoestring. And these lessons stuck with her, as she’s already accomplished so much in dance and the arts. She has performed all over the country and in Jamaica, New Zealand, Australia, and Austria.
This is what your support of Operation Shoestring is making happen for the hundreds of Jackson kids we serve every year. And over the fifty years that we’ve been creating safe spaces for children, there are literally thousands of young people—now adults like Amber—who are thriving in our community and giving back to others.
As we approach the holidays, wrapping up one year to begin a new one, I feel deeply grateful when I think of people like you who are so willing to make possible the work we do for children, like Amber, and all the families we’ve served since our founding in 1968.