[2656] in APO News
[USAMichele@aol.com: An APO Request]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jeff Bigler)
Tue Jun 10 17:18:20 1997
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 17:17:30 -0400
To: apo-news@MIT.EDU
From: Jeff Bigler <jcb@MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: jcb@MIT.EDU
I received the following message yesterday and figured it was probably
worth sending to this list.
YiLFS,
Jeff Bigler '87
------- Start of forwarded message -------
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 21:35:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: USAMichele@aol.com
To: jcb@MIT.EDU
Subject: An APO Request
Dear APO actives, pledges, alumni, & advisors:
My name is Michele Cervoni, and I'm writing at the suggestion and
encouragement of my 1/2 sister, Linda Stein, a founding member and former
Secretary of the Alpha Delta Eta chapter in Albany, NY. She assured me that
any person involved with APO would probably be willing and able to help in
some manner, either through their chapter (if active) or through any
community groups (Scouts, Boys & Girls Club, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, etc.)
to whom they might currently volunteer time. If this has already been
forwarded to you by another APO Brother, I apologize for the repeat... just
hoping to establish a new service project for the fall.
I am the Director of an organization called SAPE (formerly "The
Soviet-American Penfriend Exchange"). We match people -- aged 8 through
adult -- in the USA and other countries with postal mail (not email) pen
pals in the former Soviet Union (CIS/Baltics). One of the organizations we
work with in the former USSR is The Peace Corps. U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers
who are teaching in those countries enroll their students in our program as a
way to practice their English. Because of the massive word-of-mouth network
in the former Soviet Union, we now have a waiting list of THOUSANDS of people
who would like a pen pal in the USA or another country, in order to practice
their English. Most of these pen pals are between the ages of 12 and 30.
Unfortunately, since the rapid expansion of the internet (into schools), it
has become more and more difficult to find young people willing to exchange
letters with people who don't have access to email.
So, I'm calling to APO for any help you can provide. If each of you could
help in one or more of the following ways, we could possibly find pen pals
for everyone on the waiting list. Ways you can help:
DIRECT APO HELP:
* Get a SAPE pen pal yourself
* Tell your APO brothers (at a meeting) about SAPE so they might get a pen
pal, too -- please do this at a meeting so that people don't end up getting
multiple copies of this message in their box!
* Also at a meeting, please ask your President or one of your officers to
post this to your sectional mailing list -- so there aren't multiple postings
(please do NOT post to either of the national APO mailing lists -- my 1/2
sister is going to do this for me)
* Include our info in your chapter/sectional newsletter
* I'm only contacting APO chapters who have websites. Please pass this
message to APO chapters who aren't on the web -- either in a newsletter or at
a sectional conference.
SCHOOL-RELATED HELP
* Give a copy of this letter (by email or in print) to these departments at
your college (now
or in the fall):
Foreign Language Dept.
Russian Studies or European Studies Dept.
Political Science or History Dept.
Education Dept. (for use by Education majors who will be student
teaching)
* Give a copy to:
Your local high school next fall
THINGS YOU CAN DO NOW, SINCE SCHOOL IS OUT FOR THE SUMMER
* Give a copy to:
Your local Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization
Scout troops, Boys & Girls Clubs, 4-H, or other youth groups you
work with/know of
Your house of worship or religious fellowship for their youth
group(s)
* Tell any family members or friends who may be interested in this activity
* Add a link to our website (URL below) on your Home Page
After 8 years of existence (and more than 30,000 pairs of pen pals matched),
we've just launched our first website, which features letters from teachers
whose students have participated, stories by participants who've met their
SAPE pen pals in person, as well as a more detailed description of our goals
and history. Rather than make a long email LONGER, I invite you to check out
the website for yourself. Our URL is:
http://www.1webplaza.com/sape/sape.html
If you click on the link at the bottom of the main webpage that says "Find
Out How to Become a SAPE Penfriend!" it will bring you right to the
registration information.
Any person or group who isn't online can receive a condensed, print version
of the webpages by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to our postal
address, which is below.
Thank you for your time and all of your help. I'd love to hear back from you
with any comments or ideas you may have.
In friendship,
Michele Cervoni
Director, SAPE
P.O. Box 319
Monroe, CT 06468-0319
U.S.A.
Email: USAMichele@aol.com -- OR -- sape@1webplaza.com
------- End of forwarded message -------
