December 2018
Dear friends and visitors of our website,
On behalf of The Matt Garcia Foundation Board of Directors, the entire Garcia-Courtemanche family, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of Holiday Seasons.
It has been ten years since my son, the late Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia, was murdered on September 1st, 2008 at the young age of twenty-two. Over the course of these difficult years, your thoughts, prayers, kind words, and support have strengthened me as a person and allowed me to be a mom to my two daughters, Briana and Tea’Rae. My husband (of 28 years), who many call Brother Ray (for the love he has for our city), and I are now grandparents to Ansel Kevin Owen, who will be one year old on December 30th of this year. We are truly blessed!
After we lost our son, we established The Matt Garcia Foundation, built on Matt’s campaign promises and philosophy: when you SUPPORT YOUTH, it will help STOP CRIME and ultimately STRENGTHEN OUR COMMUNITY.
Because of you:
• We have established youth advisory boards to mentor students through high school. Some have become actual board members of our foundation: Sakina, nineteen years of age, is an aspiring policymaker, and Briana, twenty years of age, is an aspiring school teacher. Both are in college and mentoring youth.
• This Christmas Season our community will support youth at The Matt Garcia PAL Youth Center with many after-school opportunities for tutoring and mentoring, enabling thousands of children to have a higher quality of life.
• I have helped mentor women who have lost their loved ones.
• I have gone into several prisons and spoken to hardened prisoners convicted of murder about the impact that their decisions have had on family members.
• The Matt Garcia Career and College Academy provides students the opportunity to develop themselves and become productive members of society.
• The Matt Garcia Home for Women and Children has supported hundreds of women and children, protecting them from the elements while helping them to get their lives on track.
• The foundation has hosted monthly community service days for the past ten years.
• One hundred students have received scholarships to help them advance their college careers.
As we finalize our 2018 activities and prepare for 2019, would you consider helping us financially? This is the first time that I have sent out a request asking specifically for your financial support. I am confident that this is the right thing to do. With NO paid staff, it is your generosity we rely on, which will be multiplied for generations to come. Your donations are completely tax-deductible, as we are a legitimate non-profit. I have enclosed a return envelope for your convenience, or you can go online to www.ffinest.org and donate securely there.
For all those we mentor and serve – Thank You!
Teresa, your foundation president and Matt’s Mom
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