Learning By Letter

Hebrew Day School students' campaign

garnered funds to update their computers.

KERI GUTEN COHEN
Story Development Editor

Ann Arbor

W

ho says no one writes letters
any more? Hebrew Day
School of Ann Arbor stu-
dents proved that handwritten letters
can make a difference when they
received a $10,000 check late last
spring for new computers from a
women who had never even heard of
their school.
"Enclosed is a gift to help your
school," wrote the donor in a letter to
then-second-grader Seth Stancroff. "I
hope you can now buy your new com-
puters."
Seth and then-fifth-grader and
Student Council president Julia
Rothchild thanked the donor on the
phone, and HDS students sent thank-
you notes for the generosity of a
stranger who allowed them to start
this school year with 10 state-of-the-
art computers in their computer lab.
Head of School Dina Shtull-Leber
asked the donor about her motivation
to contribute to HDS, a school
unknown to her. "Did you check our
Web site?" Shtull-Leber asked her on
the phone. "No," she answered. "I just
wanted the children to know that
good things can happen in the world.
I wanted them to know that they can
make a difference."
This anonymous donor's gift was
added to initial funds from alumnae
parent, Dorit Adler, who along with

her mother, Vera, and daughter
Michelle had set up a Computer
Technology Fund in memory of her
late father, Ted Adler. Then came sup-
port from grandparent Maida Portnoy,
a grant from the Benard Mass
Foundation and a donation from
HDS parents Laurie and Jeffrey
Leflein.
Still, more funds were needed.
That's when the HDS Student
Council decided to devote itself to the
project. With help from their adviser,
teacher Carol Gannon, the students
held a used book sale for school fami-
lies and for families of JCC preschool-
ers in the same building. Still wanting
to do more, Student Council members
began a letter writing campaign.
HDS parent Joan Hartman helped
by searching the Internet for people to
contact across the country who had
been successful in the world of tech-
nology and computers. Most had no
prior relationship to the school, which
has 82 students in grades K-5.
Julia (Hartman's daughter) wrote a
request letter to send to potential
donors. Other Student Council mem-
bers wrote their own letters based on
her draft. All were written and
addressed in the children's handwrit-
ing.
The excitement came when Seth
pulled the $10,000 check from the let-
ter addressed to him.
Now the excitement comes from
using the new computers, and know-
ing they helped make them a reality. O

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Student Council members Seth
Stancroff and Sofia Eisenbeiser
look at one of the new computers.

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