NPL COMMUNICATIONS, INC. Reclaiming the Trail “A Boy’s Rites of Passage Program”
Together We Can Box 9804, St Thomas, USVI 00801 NANCY P. LEWIS 340 998 5947 CHERYL I. MILLER 340 998 1669 ZARAH I. BUNNER 340 642 4309
Monday, October 06, 2008 Dear Community Partner, N.P.L Communications Inc. is a Non- Profit (501c3) company that is currently heading Reclaiming the Trail: A Boy’s Rites of Passage Program. This program is dedicated to providing teen boys with positive developmental activities while including male mentors as role models. This program has provided alternatives to violence and drugs to boys between the ages of 11 and 15 and will continue to provide mentoring activities after this phase has been completed. This is a pilot program and we have been successful in accomplishing our goals through a holistic approach using outdoor educational activities. To date, 25 young men have participated in our program. Our groups have completed nine (9) successful hikes across the island of St. John. We have explored and learned about the ruins of Catherineberg, Peace Hill, Annaberg, Cinnamon and Reef Bay. We have hiked the Caneel Hill/Margaret Hill trail and ended on Honeymoon Beach where we were greeted with a double rainbow for our endeavors. The beaches have been our reward as well, and we have kayaked, snorkeled and swum at Solomon, Gibney, Francis, Maho and Hawksnest. We learned from experts about native plants and historic cultural traditions on our Annaberg, Salt Pond and Reef Bay hikes. Volunteer mentors have helped along the way and our adult community has benefited from this as well. As you can see we have been very busy! We have completed our program goals and would like to close as strong as we began. Are you willing to help us? We are currently looking for a donation to complete our closing ceremony and are requesting either financial or resource help from your organization. We anticipate celebrating the progress/rites of passage in a closing ceremony on October 25th 2008 at 12:00 noon at The St. John School of the Arts. As a sponsor, we would love to see you attend. Please RSVP by Oct. 12th 2008. We anticipate that we will have at least 50 people attending this event and would like to provide a healthy lunch with a nice presentation. Please let me know if your company can cater this event for us, or donate the funds in time for us to cater it ourselves. We appreciate that we are all going through economic stress in these times and acknowledge this is a great act of kindness on your part. Yet, it is also important we recognize these young men for the steps they have taken in becoming well-rounded adults. We are committed to mentoring young men and hope to instill in them, the same social responsibility that your company exhibits in our community. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Zarah I. Bunner Designer/Director, [Reclaiming the Trail] “A Boy’s Rites of Passage Program”.