January 7, 2010

 Dear Friend:

 There is excitement in the air at the Linda Lorelle Scholarship Fund as we look forward to a prosperous 2010 and, believe it or not, our 20^th anniversary in 2011!  We have an ambitious agenda that will take the LLSF to the next level and catapult us toward another 20 years of successfully impacting the lives of our students and their families. And we couldn’t be more thrilled that our Co-Founder, Linda Lorelle, has agreed to lead the way as Interim Executive Director as the New Year begins.  The Board is delighted to have Linda fill this role at such a critical and exciting time in the growth and development of the LLSF.

 So as 2009 draws to a close and we look toward the future, the LLSF and its Board of Directors are giving thanks:

• To our dedicated, ardent and generous donors who understand the importance of our mission, continue to dig deep and provided us with another successful year, despite the challenging economic times;
• To Anna Barba Poindexter, our Executive Director of six years, who embraced our scholars and is now looking forward to a new career path;
• To the tiny LLSF staff that does the work of an army with a passion for the mission and a never say die attitude;
• To our tireless volunteers who are always there when we need them;
• To our partners who contribute to our support programs and help us enrich the lives of our students;
• And finally, to our students who allow us to embrace them, accept the help that is offered and work hard to achieve their dreams of graduating from college and contributing to their communities.  We are so proud of them!

 You can see that we have much to be thankful for and we are more excited than ever about the future!  The first quarter of 2010 will be extremely busy.  Our 6^th Annual LLSF College Preparatory Conference is January 30^th at the George R. Brown Convention Center, we will soon begin vetting hundreds of scholarship applications for the fall of 2010 and we will initiate the search for a new Executive Director to lead the LLSF into the future.  We expect to have the position filled by the beginning of the second quarter.

 In the meantime, we thank you again for your support of the Linda Lorelle Scholarship Fund and wish you a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!

 Warm Regards,

            Deidra Fontaine                                               Richard Hendee

            Chairman                                                           President