Learn how Operation Shoestring helps Mariel, a Jackson 4th grader 

“It’s a good place and kids can be protected here. I feel protected here.” 

Mariel is in fourth grade and has bows in her hair, a big smile, and a self-assured attitude. You can find her helping her afterschool teacher and our Shoestring staff, telling detailed stories about her favorite holidays to volunteers, and carefully studying her math homework. Mariel is one of over 180 children who attend our afterschool and summer program, Project Rise, every year and who consider the time spent with us as the high point of their day. Mariel explains that she loves coming to afterschool so much because, as she says, the teachers are really nice here. “My teacher helps me with all the things I need help on,” reports Mariel. “She’s not like one of those adults who don’t just give a darn; she really cares. It’s good here, the food is good, and I know if I’m sick or hurt my teacher will take care of me.”

At Operation Shoestring, we provide year-round afterschool and summer programming for children in pre-K through 7th grade, and coordinate workshops and support groups for their families while connecting them to the resources they need to thrive. We believe by connecting families to wider opportunities, we can create positive change for everyone in our larger community. 

Mariel comes to Operation Shoestring every afternoon eager to learn and hopeful about her future, which wouldn’t happen without you helping support our work of creating spaces that kids like Mariel look forward to and feel secure in.  

Your support helps provide children in Jackson with safe places to play, learn, and dream, and spaces for their families to to gain skills and resources needed to pursue their dreams. 

Mariel is almost always filled with excitement when she steps off the school bus and into our building on Bailey Avenue. You can practically feel it when she comes through the double doors of our building! Mariel loves creating artwork out of cursive letters and looks forward to learning vocabulary words and playing dodgeball on our playground. She enjoys experiencing a wide range of enrichments and academic support in our building, but values most how the people in our program make her feel: cared for, cherished, and affirmed. 

And you can be part of creating hope, opportunity, and supportive spaces that kids like Mariel look forward to and feel safe in. 

Mariel’s mom says her daughter loves being around her classmates at Shoestring, and “enjoys all the different things she encounters during the afterschool day.” Her mom also says that learning about different countries last year and getting to try their food made a big impression on Mariel last year and that it’s so important to her that Mariel gets to experience these extra enriching activities  and experiences  like learning about other cultures around the world. “I appreciate how Operation Shoestring helps us make our kids well-rounded,” explained Mariel’s mom. From horizon-expanding field trips and science experiments to social studies and gardening, our afterschool and summer programs help show kids in our afterschool program the pathway to a brighter, more hopeful future. 

Partnering with us creates more access to enriching, exciting experiences like the ones Mariel has for kids here on Bailey Avenue. You can imagine Mariel’s surprise and delight when she found out this year her class would be working this semester with an international exchange student. Mariel is inquisitive about the world around her and immediately took to the college exchange student from India, who taught her class about her culture, the joys of reading, and geography. Mariel loves chatting with her new friend, and her new friend loves sharing photos from her corner of the world with Mariel. 

Through her work and the work of many volunteers and supporters like you, we’re building supportive connections in our city that expand the world of our students and bridge the gaps in equity and opportunity for children in our city.

Mariel finds special meaning in being able to celebrate success and joyful occasions with her classmates and Shoestring staff. She told us that she couldn’t “wait to decorate my classroom for Christmas with my class—I want everyone to be able to see the tree we make.” 

And we want everyone to be able to see what a difference investing in loving, supportive spaces can make for kids in our city.

At Operation Shoestring, we’re in the business of creating greater HOPE, EQUITY, and OPPORTUNITY for the children who walk through our doors. And your investment in our program is an essential part of making that happen.

This holiday season, I hope you will join Mariel in creating something joyful by partnering with us to support our year-round programming for families here at Operation Shoestring. When the kids in our program can thrive, we all can thrive. We all rise together.