NovatoSpirit Youth Give Thanks

November is a time of thanksgiving, and NovatoSpirit’s athletic youth are expressing their gratitude. We just received a letter from Andrea, who received a NovatoSpirit scholarship to dance at Tara-Caprice Broadwater’s Love 2 Dance studio. 

“Right now I am taking hip-hop classes with Tara,” Andrea wrote.  “I love being in Tara’s class, I think she is a wonderful teacher.  Because of these dance classes, I feel more confident, not only because I’m making new friends, but also I’m not shy anymore to dance among people.  I am very happy that I was awarded this scholarship.  I will never forget the generosity of the people who made this possible.”

Andrea is joined in her praise by all of our youth, who admire their athletic instructors.  This is what Maritza wrote about her karate instructors:

“My instructors are the exemplar of what I want to become.  They are congenial and forbearing, as well as detailing, which are characteristics of great instructors.  They are learners and share their learning with us.  I believe my teachers to be very patient throughout the process of our learning.  Their interest motivates me to keep going since I feel they believe I can.”

Since childhood, Maritza has enjoyed her NovatoSpirit karate scholarship at Ito’s White Tiger Kempo Karate School.  Now she is a young woman entering college. 

NovatoSpirit serves low-income youth ages 7-18 with 5-year athletic scholarships in karate, dance, tae kwon do, and soccer.  These longterm scholarships keep our youth active while they experience the many challenges confronting them as they mature.  We have noticed that NovatoSpirit’s youth are not only motivated to move—they are motivated to learn.

NovatoSpirit has a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.  We’ve been given many gifts and services, including a brand new logo and website.   We’ve been nominated for some awards.   And we’re blessed with you.  Thanks to your generosity, since our first operational year in 2006, our funding has increased by 120%, enabling us to serve a record number of youth this year! 

During the past few months we have received an abundance of individual gifts from Novato folks, as well as grants from Marin County organizations: Unity in Marin, West Cal Financial, and Private Wealth Partners.  And it was our good fortune to have our tax return done pro bono by Cindy Grove and Jerry Ghirardo of Ghirardo CPA in Novato.

We were surprised to learn that we were nominated for Umpqua Bank of Novato’s “Good Deed” award, and for the Heart of Marin’s “Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence” award.  Both of those awards come with monetary gifts, so we will be keeping our fingers crossed!

As many of you already know, NovatoSpirit has a new look and a new website, thanks to marketing expert Liz Huntington, who re-designed our logo, website, letterhead, and business cards.  She did all this—for free—while between marketing jobs.  Additionally, we have been lucky to have the tech support of Navid Borjian, who designed our original website for free and kept it updated for years.  Please see our new website: http://www.novatospirit.org/    

Recently, we received a heartfelt note from Damaris.  She and her younger sister both have NovatoSpirit dance scholarships, and they performed together for the first time on stage: “Last season was great, because I shared the stage with my sister.  Always at home, while we played, we imagined to be together on the stage.  And thanks to you we did.  It was a beautiful experience.  Dancing is something that my sister and I hold together.  And every time my mom came back home from painful physical therapy, we do a special dance for mom and she feels better.  My sister also improved a lot in her movements.  And her speech. This is magic. Thanks for everything.”

Thank you for brightening the lives of these girls and other youth.  Happy Holidays!

NovatoSpirit is a 501c3 public charity serving low-income youth in Novato.  All donations are tax deductible.  Please mail donations to: NovatoSpirit, 936 7th Street, Suite B, PMB 236, Novato, CA  94945.  Thank you.