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Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Bloggers Helping Single Parents

Last Friday I attended a luncheon hosted by LDS Philanthropies, perhaps you've heard about it. A gathering of Mormon Mommy Bloggers, as They say, assembled to learn about how to help single mothers (and single fathers!) in one of their most imperative endeavors: obtaining a higher education degree.

We all know a single mother. One of my closest friends is a single mother. Maybe you're a single mother. I'll be honest, I feel protective of the single moms I know; they've been through so much already, I just want to make their lives as easy as possible for them. Often, they find themselves in a situation which necessitates that they get a job to better support themselves and their children, but they might not qualify for a high-enough paying job and end up having to settle for whatever is available (and the subsequent low income). Getting a higher-paying job might mean having to go back to school, but how on earth is a single parent supposed to fit that into their schedule?

LDS Business College (LDSBC) has developed an approach to help single parents, especially women, improve their earning potential. Each student is assigned a faculty mentor to help them along in a 4-semester program, during which many secure an internship, providing work experience and networking opportunities. The result is 90% of LDSBC graduates directly entering the work force.

Many aspects of entering a 2-year program can be daunting for a single parent, not the least of which is cost. Enter: You. And me. Which is great, since, remember? I want to do all I can to make life easier for single moms.

During the month of November, you'll see a fundraising campaign to help this cause. All money raised goes directly into Single Parent Scholarships. How much is a scholarship, you ask? One semester (tuition & books) is $1800; four semesters is $7200. That's right: $7200 to change a single mom's life FOREVER.



I hope you're able to help.

Disclaimer: In exchange for being asked to post this, I was given a Jimmy John's samdgwinch, a li'l bag o' salt & vinegar chips, a chocolate chip cookie, and a pickle, all nicely packaged in a box. Plus a bottle of water. Also, I'll likely be writing about this again later because there's more I want to tell you.

5 comments:

kacy faulconer said...

And I was given the same but with a raisin oatmeal cookie which sucked. Thanks for trading it in for me.

I hope we raise as much money as we said we could.

Camille said...

I love hearing about programs helping single mom! We need all the help we can get!

Jocelyn Christensen said...

I'm glad you disclosed the Jimmy Johns, but I must say, now I've got a craving for one! :)

CKW said...

You rock. You just do...

Unknown said...

And I did not eat the chips or the cookie because the pickle gave me acid reflux. And yet, despite having to overcome the overwhelming hardship of only eating the sandwich, three chips, and the water, I still was so moved by this wonderful project that I blogged about it, added that widget to my sidebar, and trolled around in everyone else's blogs to see if any of them talked about me. THAT'S how inspiring this project really is.