With Your Support, Operation Shoestring Students like Javier Enjoy an Awesome Summer!

Dear Friend:

Shoestring parent Rosalyn enrolls her son, fourth grader Javier, in our Project Rise afterschool and summer program because, well, she loves it! “I love the staff and the hours of the program. The afterschool program gives me enough time to be able to get my child after work. If the program wasn’t offered, I would have to leave work early to come to pick him up, and take him home,” she told us recently.

And leaving work isn’t all she would worry about if Javier wasn’t in our year-round programming. The majority of Operation Shoestring parents have expressed concerns to us about community safety and have told us that they feel Shoestring is one of the few reliably safe places for their families in the city. Without Shoestring, kids like Javier likely wouldn’t have access to a safe, nurturing environment filled with friends and supportive adults. 

Of course, none of that safety and support happens without people like you investing in our work and programs, including our upcoming all-day, seven-week summer camp. This year we plan to serve some 160 children in grades K-7 for all of June and half of July. Our kids will experience everything from summer reading to computer science to swimming lessons to learning to bake with local restaurants and exploring the beautiful parks in the Metro-Jackson area.

Another critical benefit of our afterschool and summer program is that it provides parents with much needed peace of mind. When their children come to Operation Shoestring during the school year and summer, parents know that their children are supported, engaged, and learning all year long. 

Not a day goes by without the team at Shoestring thinking about what’s good for kids like Javier. In fact, that thinking is how Operation Shoestring runs summer and afterschool programs year after year. It’s all about providing a nurturing, affirming environment that helps children explore the world safely and grow to reach their full potential. Javier and his classmates are Jackson’s future, and we’re honored to take part in their lives with our programs.

Your support plays a vital role in the future of our city as well. Afterschool and summer programs like Operation Shoestring’s protect children for the 80% of their waking hours when they’re out of school, and provide pathways to exploring and learning about the world around them. That adds up to hundreds of kids being empowered and nurtured in an environment that helps them avoid risky decisions and dangerous situations. 

Operation Shoestring has long provided supportive services to neighborhood children and their families in the heart of Jackson. For more than half a century, we’ve run children and youth programs focused on academic and social support while also creating horizon-expanding experiences for them and their parents. As you’d expect, Shoestring kids typically demonstrate greater academic growth and have better school attendance than their peers who aren’t in our programs. And data from our parent programs tell us parents feel better and more hopeful because of the supportive opportunities we provide. And all of this adds up to more kids and their families having better access to opportunities, and the support necessary to take advantage of those opportunities to pursue their goals and live healthy, fulfilled lives. 

As Javier says, “If I didn’t have Shoestring, I’d just be at home doing nothing. It’s better to be here. It’s awesome.” 

With your support, kids in our city like Javier are safe, supported, and provided the tools they need for a successful future. When you invest in Operation Shoestring, you’re actively creating spaces where kids are able to explore, create, dream, and act on those dreams. You’re investing in kids and families, and in our whole community.

We hope you can join Javier–and all of Shoestring’s children–for another “awesome” summer this year. We all rise together.