Letters to Write

I'm putting 4 letters into 1 post since they all pertain to the same program and same result - helping the hurricane affected schools.

Letter #1 Write or Email to the Box Tops For Education Program:
E-mail
Use our contact form to e-mail Box Tops for Education about program and technical questions.

Write
Box Tops for Education
P.O. Box 8998
Young America, MN 55551

Letter:
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing on behalf of all school districts affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While I am working directly with Hancock County, MS School System, I know the need extends much further and the nation’s ability to help is far greater than a single school district.
For that reason, I am asking you to begin a campaign on your Box Tops For Education website (www.boxtops4education.com) that states you will match all Box Tops sent in by the affected school districts for one calendar year.
Word will get out to the nation, more affluent schools, communities, PTAs, etc. will participate as well as individuals such as myself. The request for your help includes you placing an interactive map of the affected region so that organizations and individuals can choose to assist a particular school district by need or by affiliation. With this map, it would be helpful to have a tally of what each school district has had submitted – being updated on a monthly basis. An address for each school district would also be made available – as it is now – in order that the Box Tops be sent to the correct address and then submitted to you in the traditional manner.
The only additional work would be the initial website inclusion of this campaign, while any tallying and addresses would be pulled from existing databases. Any increase in activity in the Box Tops For Education Program would be directed to a single region, and may actually reduce activity in other regions of the country, making for no net increase in work on your part.
Please consider this request as quickly as possible so these school systems might recover more rapidly and completely for the children and communities in the Gulf Region.
If you have any questions regarding this request, please do not hesitate to call me at your earliest convenience.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,

Write to Labels For Education at:
Labels for Education
PO Box 3130
Grand Rapids, Minnesota 55745-3130

Email them through their contact page:http://www.labelsforeducation.com/contactanne.aspx

Letter
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing on behalf of all school districts affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While I am working directly with Hancock County, MS School System, I know the need extends much further and the nation’s ability to help is far greater than a single school district.
For that reason, I am asking you to begin a campaign on your Labels For Education website (www.labelsforeducation.com) that states you will match all Labels sent in by the affected school districts for one calendar year.
Word will get out to the nation, more affluent schools, communities, PTAs, etc. will participate as well as individuals such as myself. The request for your help includes you placing an interactive map of the affected region so that organizations and individuals can choose to assist a particular school district by need or by affiliation. With this map, it would be helpful to have a tally of what each school district has had submitted – being updated on a monthly basis. An address for each school district would also be made available – as it is now – in order that the Labels be sent to the correct address and then submitted to you in the traditional manner.
The only additional work would be the initial website inclusion of this campaign, while any tallying and addresses would be pulled from existing databases. Any increase in activity in the Labels For Education Program would be directed to a single region, and may actually reduce activity in other regions of the country, making for no net increase in work on your part.
Please consider this request as quickly as possible so these school systems might recover more rapidly and completely for the children and communities in the Gulf Region.
If you have any questions regarding this request, please do not hesitate to call me at your earliest convenience.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,

This letter is to your state PTA. I found NYS's PTA org very easily, so the search shouldn't be difficult if you just type in your state's name followed by "PTA" and you should get it in the first 5 hits.

Letter
To Whom It May Concern:
I would like to take a moment of your time to request information dissemination to your affiliates.I am asking that all PTAs choose a school system affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and spend one quarter to one year collecting and sending both Labels For Education (see www.labelsforeducation.com) and Box Tops For Education (see www.boxtops4education.com) to that school system/PTA in order to recover more completely and rapidly than they otherwise would without the assistance.
I am also asking that the attached letters be made available to request the affiliated companies to assist by matching the submitted Labels/Box Tops for one calendar year.
In the grand scheme of things, the amounts given (rather than kept) by local PTAs will be insignificant compared to the invaluable assets they will become to the receiving schools.
If you would like more information regarding this proposal/request, please contact me at your earliest convenience.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,

And finally - make a second copy of the above letter and send it to the national PTA. They need to understand that this disaster requires us as a nation to think outside the box. They claim they can't condone or advocate for any single program, but this isn't like any other time in our history. So write the letters.

This one needs to go to the National PTA Org. It is the exact same letter as the one to your state, but this will make the national organization aware that people throughout the country want to help the affected region and it would be very good policy to make the information available to their state affiliates.

By sending to the states first, you are insuring they get the information in case the national organization tries to ignore the requests.

Send To:
Send email to the National PTA.

You may also contact the National PTA via mail, phone or fax:
National PTA
541 N Fairbanks Court
Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60611-3396
Phone: (312) 670-6782Toll-Free: (800) 307-4PTA (4782)Fax: (312) 670-6783
Please send faxes and correspondence to the attention of the Customer Service Department.

National PTA Washington DC Office
1090 Vermont Ave. NW, Suite 1200
Washington, D.C. 20005-4905
Phone: (202) 289-6790Fax: (202) 289-6791Hotline: (888) 425-5537

Contact Names:
Kimberly Barnes-O'Connor, Deputy Executive Director - Programs and Public Policy
Sheri DeBoe Johnson, Program Director