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I wish I could convey the powerful, moving experience I had at a student scholars’ award ceremony . . . their accomplishments, much more noteworthy than your everyday award ceremony. What potential and outstanding achievement surfaces when the financial resources and people appear to cultivate that potential that lies dormant in under-resourced schools. To witness their accomplishments and awards, and meet them is a great honor: the 12th grade grads, honor-roll students, and college scholarship recipients; and college grads, summa cum laude, and cum laude. I admire their courage and achievements under the most difficult of circumstances throughout their youth. How Your College Access Funds Paid Off
With High School Achievement & Scholarships, There’s Much Immediate Need Supplemental Scholarship Funds - 1:1 Match up to $7,000 Through JuneWhether donating funds, computers, used & unused gift cards, they all fulfill the college-bound students’ needs for essentials like housing, meals, transportation to and from school, dorm & school supplies, books, laptops, mobile phone plans, and more. Upward mobility is costly and these students and others we support will end up with debt burdens. For example, a student received a half-tuition scholarship to Yale, that’s $25k of $50k tuition; she needs to find additional scholarship funds and loans to cover the additional $22k for housing, meals, books, and fees; and still, school & dorm supplies, transportation to and from school, possibly a laptop, and basic living expenses. Supplemental Scholarship fund donations and gift cards can help. A gift of $25=$50; $200=$400; $500=$1000. Donations make their uphill climb less burdensome. Every little bit helps! "The Proof is in the Pudding" First Generation College Grads & Their Awards Others who came before this year’s college-bound class, made great strides:
I’m excited for these ambitious student scholars, their futures in college, and their post-college futures. Braswell, Fabricio, Rebecca, all with careers in place, are reasons to believe in those following in their footsteps. Through contributions we can facilitate their challenging journeys with College Access Funds for invaluable college prep support, and Supplemental Scholarship Funds for college-bound high school grads. Summer Reading Like No Other Visit our Eye-Opening Stories page to find summer reading, remarkable success stories that will blow you away, and affirm the necessity of going to bat for students whose families and schools have limited financial resources. Another Way to Help Student Scholars is by Starting Your Own Facebook Fundraiser for All Out for Change®For simple instructions to start your FaceBook Fundraiser visit our FaceBook Fundraiser page. A gift of $25=$50; $200=$400; $500=$1000 Your donation in its entirety is invested in our student scholars Spread the Word via Instagram & Facebook Through you and your support we can make a big difference in someone else’s life. And for that, I am very grateful! Many Many Thanks, MaryAnn, Chief Engagement Officer and Founder AllOutForChange® “I’m graduating with $40,000 in federal loans,” remarks Rebecca. Anthony replies, “That’s not that bad!” LISTEN HERE Imagine being a 12th-grader with a scholarship offer, projecting very little money for day to day expenses, about to embark on a perilous journey that leads down a deep hole of debt, to then climb the rickety ladder out toward upward mobility without a safety net. Listen to her talk with Anthony, another scholarship student in similar shoes, and learn about the remarkable financial gyrations Rebecca spins through, her conundrums and worries, much different concerns than her peers from wealthier families. Now a George Washington University senior, she steps upon the rickety ladder with a new job on the horizon, hoping for a stable, bright future, and one day free of her college debt burden. Hard to imagine… with a high school degree, a college scholarship and financial aid in hand you pass “GO” with all kinds of challenges and financial stress through college and beyond. It’s either that direction as a first generation college student or life with a low-wage job. Today’s climb for ambitious students from poor and working class families, in under-resourced schools, is fraught with hurdles. That journey upward now typically requires major debt and more than a high school degree. It becomes possible and less perilous when others, like All Out for Change® and contributors, go All Out to help students through high school and college Change their and their families' lives for good. "Student debt can be the difference between a financial future of hope or one of despair," writes tax law professor Dorothy A. Brown, in The Washington Post. Our spring fundraiser for 2021 high school grads starts early May. We're estimating we’ll need $7,500 for laptops for 15 grads to get them through their college years; that's on top of the other Supplemental Scholarship Fund needs. Feel free to pitch in now, with your used laptop, used or unused gift cards, or via a donation; fifty - 12th grade recipients of free and reduced price lunches will greatly appreciate the assistance with college expenses. Help Build Awareness - If you haven’t already “liked” us on Facebook and you do like us, please take a second to “like” our FB Page Thanks for listening to Rebecca’s story, and for your support.
MaryAnn, Chief Engagement Officer and Founder AllOutForChange®  Animation: Thomas Thorspecken, former Disney Animator, now an independent artist and illustrative journalist; check him out at analogartistdigitalworld.com. Our courageous Sam in the video is a neighbor I’m very fortunate to know. His social equity awareness at the age of 12, as displayed in his memoir, set the foundation for the rest of his life. These days he takes action by supporting All Out for Change® and other charities. “I’m donating my next stimulus check to charities and organizations that aid children and promote social equity. I’ve already earmarked $900 for righteous causes, including $100 to All Out for Change,” wrote Sam in a recent note. Financially disadvantaged, hard-working 2021 high school grads with college scholarships will need assistance with other essential expenses such as, laptops, books, small tuition gaps, meal plans, dorm and school supplies, transportation to college, etc; all basics that their wealthier peers’ families can afford. Investments like Sam’s in the ambitious students we support will cover their shortfall and provide supplemental assistance where needed. Defining Social Equity “PolicyLink defines equity as “just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. Unlocking the promise of the nation by unleashing the promise in us all.” The American Planning Association “It Takes a Village” to Open Doors to Opportunity and Upward Mobility from an inequitable educational system that does a serious disservice to our youth from working poor families (security guards, food prep and waitstaff, childcare and healthcare workers). Neither extra-curricular enrichment programs, nor essentials can be covered with the famiilies' low-wage, yet invaluable jobs they perform. Nor do they have the privilege of living in an affluent zip code where higher property taxes fund exceptional public schools. So, unlike their wealthier peers, ambitious first generation college freshman face many systemic challenges in high school and college. To better grasp today’s systemic hurdles toward upward mobility read this personal eye-opening account, “I Was a Low-Income College Student. Classes Weren’t the Hard Part.” Anthony Abraham Jack, New York Times. His book, The Privileged Poor,captures the inequity and the struggles students face to change their lives for good, and presents ways the system can better support them. Find numerous riveting personal accounts on our Eye-Opening Stories page, including, A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team by Arshay Cooper; or choose from among numerous revealing, compelling books. All Out for Change®, through understanding & thoughtful supporters, serves as one of numerous essential players facilitating ambitious students’ rise above the systemic hurdles. Spread the Word via Instagram & Facebook These fortunate, grateful, wise student scholars and professionals are familiar with that gift of belief: “People believe in us and they want the best for us,” remarked Anthony Anderson in a recent conversation. “Believe in us,” asserted Braswell when we recently spoke. And when returning to speak to youth at the juvenile facility where he was in solitary confinement at the age of 12, Ryan Speedo Green, now a professional opera singer, said, “I believe in you, I believe in you, I believe in you.” Profiles Illustrating The Power Of That Belief Braswell: Junior year, at a public high school in SE Washington, through friends in a non-profit Mathletes program Braswell learned of a college-readiness program that attracted him. This took his life on the road less traveled, unfamiliar to students in southeast DC. Says Braswell, “in a cargo van packed with students visiting colleges in North Carolina and Florida, I learned there’s more than Alabama Avenue.” He hadn’t traveled before or been outside the neighborhood.“Mr. Penniman helped me to open my eyes.” After completing his graduate degree in Education at the University of Arizona, Braswell now works as the school’s first Black Student Recruitment Coordinator. Fabricio: What he has accomplished at only 24, arriving in this country as a kid from El Salvador who lived in poverty, and attended a DC charter school, is admirable and remarkable. When I asked him, would you be where you are today if your 10th grade teacher hadn’t noticed your “love for math” and directed you to Mr. P. (Mathletes) and Ms. Barbara (a tutor)? “Absolutely not!” He overcame one hurdle upon another. If these individuals hadn’t appeared he wouldn’t be a successful IT professional who purchased a home in the DC suburbs “for his parents”, where he and his sister also live. “I told my Mom I was going to be the last in the family to live in poverty.” Anthony: He had the good fortune of ending up in a DC public school that ranks in the top 7% of US schools, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Someone from his middle school urged Anthony to audition. Though he never sang or acted, Anthony says, " A reading teacher who saw how much I acted out thought to direct me toward acting, and auditioning for the Duke Ellington School to redirect that energy toward a positive outcome". And Anthony, “winged it” at his audition; accepted to the school, “at 14 I knew I was destined to go that path”. Later, as a high school Junior he and opera clicked. A teacher took interest in him, and Anthony connected with his church pianist, who became a mentor. Little did he know then, he’d be headed into opera, and receive a full scholarship to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Learn of roadblocks he faced; watch a short Today Show segment. Keanu: As a basketball player on the Navajo Reservation’s Chinle High School Basketball team the basketball coach served as a pivotal person in his and his teammates’ lives. For Keanu, his English teacher did as well. Writes Michael Powell in Canyon Dreams, “Keanu typed his college essays on his cell phone and transcribed them when he got to school… As Keanu’s trailer lacked anything like an internet connection, he lugged his laptop to the Burger King in Chinle where he worked as a cashier…logged on and closed his eyes and asked God and the Holy People for help… He was knocking at a door to an unknown world…. He got into Swarthmore. And Dartmouth. And Brown, Columbia, Case Western, and Harvard… Five months later he would board a plane and land in Boston and matriculate at Harvard.” Arshay Cooper: Says Arshay Cooper in his book, A Most Beautiful Thing; The True Story of America’s All-Black Rowing Team, “Ken and Victory Outreach have taught me to have vision and to see where I want to be and what to do to get there.” And in the Epilogue, he writes, “I can never thank Ken enough for throwing me into the water because the sport of crew changed my life." Purchase this book to read his gripping story that begins in the 90's on the rough streets of Chicago's west side. Ryan Speedo Green (an accomplished opera star whose remarkable story is told in Sing for Your Life), Wes Moore (author of the NYT bestseller, The Other Wes Moore; One Name, Two Fates), Arshay Cooper (author of A Most Beautiful Thing; The True Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team; now a documentary) have published books (available on our Eye-Opening Stories page) about their riveting and remarkable journeys, filled with ups and downs. While these are heartwarming stories, there’s heartbreak on the other side knowing that way too many students caught in our inequitable education system will never be blessed with the serendipitous good fortune of pivotal people who set the stage for achievement and upward mobility. Often Just One Individual Serves As A Platform For Change, The Skateboard With Which To Soar Facilitate Belief And Achievement - Mentor A Student, Or Help With Literacy. You can be a pivotal person for youth attending our many underperforming, under-resourced schools, who live in working-hard-to-get-by families that can’t afford to live in the zip codes with high-performing schools. Often both the student and the parent work minimum wage jobs. And that’s where we and you and others come in to break that cycle and watch a student soar: high school degree, scholarships, college degrees, and fulfilling professions! Many 9th graders read well below their grade-level. Volunteer a couple hours a week to elevate essential skills for success. Choose your city and do as I did for results: searching literacy programs in Washington, DC. And this link has volunteer opportunities throughout the US. YOUR DONATION IN ITS ENTIRETY IS INVESTED IN OUR STUDENT SCHOLARS Spread the Word via Instagram & Facebook Stay Well and Cultivate Belief and Achievement in 2021!
MaryAnn, Chief Engagement Officer and Founder AllOutForChange® 2020 College Access & Supplemental Scholarship Fundraising Grand Finale By now you know post-high school education is the ticket to upward mobility. And you know about the need low-income student scholars have for essential financial support to excel in high school, and pursue college degrees and fruitful careers. As wealthier parents know, an exorbitant amount can be spent on cultivating a competitive candidate for college acceptance; then there’s ongoing day-to-day need for essentials besides housing and tuition for 4 years. Full scholarship recipients have these needs as well in high school and college and the All Out for Change® College Access Fund & Supplemental Scholarship Awards pitch in via supporters in the way of cash donations, gift cards, and computers. YOUR DONATION IN ITS ENTIRETY IS INVESTED IN OUR STUDENT SCHOLARS The Match: your donation will result in my personal gift of $25 to address college student food insecurity. The Return on Your Investment Their Success, Achievements, Hope for Their Future; And The Smile You Get When You See This Photo  Why the Gigantic Smile? Zoom in to read, from George Mason University Office of Admissions to James:  Anthony’s Fall Semester Solo Opera Produced With the New i-Pad Thanks to supporters who contributed to this Supplemental Scholarship Award, we continue to support Anthony in his pursuit of his career in opera. Watch his short solo-opera exploring homelessness, and don’t miss the credits at the end: A House Is Not A Home.  Did You Know? Food Insecurity Exists on Campuses Regarding the day-to-day help, food is among the essentials for students from first generation working-class and low-income families! I will personally gift $25 to the George Washington University student-run food pantry, The Store, providing: food, basic hygiene products, and school supplies, and more. I’ll be donating a couple of my coats and kitchen supplies as well. According to The Store’s faculty advisor I’ve met, students they serve include undergrads, graduate, law and medical school students. They noted an increased “very high demand” among this semester’s 500 residential students. The demand will likely double or triple during spring semester with the arrival of 1000 more residential students. I Was a Low-Income College Student. Classes Weren’t the Hard Part. Anthony Abraham Jack, New York Times My hope Is we’re shedding some light on a dark corner of our educational system, cultivating awareness and support for students who deserve a chance to pursue their potential. To help do so, share this enews, and our facebook and instagram posts. Spread the Word via Instagram & Facebook Stay Well and Help Make Independence & Achievement Happen in 2021!
MaryAnn, Chief Engagement Officer and Founder AllOutForChange® 1:1 Match Today, Giving Tuesday; For every donation received there’ll be a 1:1 Match up to $500012/1/2020
Give to Cultivate Upward Mobility & Stories of Achievement Education in the US, unlike other developed countries, is fraught with under-resourced schools, and systemic injustice, built-in roadblocks for youth from families with limited financial resources. All Out for Change®, via organizations and students we support with College Access Funds and Supplemental Scholarship Funds, helps break through socio-economic roadblocks along the journey to higher education and upward mobility. "I just want to make life better for myself while helping my mother and the rest of my family," remarks Delonte in 2017 during his senior year, homeless throughout high school.Now, as a junior in college and a scholarship recipient, he’s pursuing his dream. Paul, the Director of the college prep program Delonte participated in, drives him and others to college out-of-state. It “takes a village” to facilitate Delonte’s success and achievement, and to cultivate his gifts. What a difference we can all make, one student at a time! Contributions, and donated Macs and gift cards allow us to support invaluable programs like Paul’s, and to help ambitious students, like Delonte, pursue their dreams, change their lives and the lives of those around them. Following Kevin's Achievement, Thanks to an iMac and "the Village" In April we made an enormous difference in Kevin's life with a IMac. Kevin is among the fortunate few who through us and others, pulling for him, is making it now through the school shutdown: continuing his classes online and his college prep workshops, and searching for colleges and scholarships. He's excelling now as a senior and considering tech related studies at University of Maryland, George Mason University, and Morgan State as a safety. Let’s hope he gets the full scholarship offer he needs! Stay tuned! His good fortune includes also a mentor who is a program alum, who 10 years ago followed a vocational track, now successful in the IT field, and purchased a home for his family! That’s the upward mobility we’re talking about that “takes a village” to bring their ambition and talent to fruition. It's heartbreaking to imagine what it's like for less-fortunate students in our country. Kevin's life is a vastly different life from his wealthier peers who not only have access to their classes online, but also have parents receiving pitches daily for online acting classes, music lessons, tutoring, on-line read-alouds, science & technology websites. All Out for Change® provides hope and help to low-income students like Kevin, Taronne, Da-Quon, Janiya and American Indian college scholars faced with potentially tragic consequences due to their limited financial resources and our educational system's failure. Give to Cultivate Upward Mobility & More Stories of Achievement Donations will fund College Access programming and provide Supplemental Scholarship Awards to 12th graders to cover the cost of essentials such as: tuition gaps, books, SAT prep courses, college counselors, transportation to school or to visit colleges, college application fees, AP exam fees, laptops, dorm supplies, school supplies. Spread the Word via Instagram & Facebook Please help cultivate awareness of our students' conundrums and the importance of College Access Funds. Thank You to All Who Made Our 2020 Impact Possible!
MaryAnn, Chief Engagement Officer and Founder] AllOutForChange® What Spring-Fall College Access Donations Have DoneExpect to hear of the achievements of 3 student scholars through their final high school year at Washington DC’s McKinley Tech Educational Campus, and then into college. We’re confident that Maurice, Daivon, and Dimya will not be academically harmed by the pandemic-forced virtual classes, they'll will do well and find scholarships at colleges where they’ll pursue engineering degrees as first generation college students. Why will they get through this unscathed? All 3 are fortunate to have mentors, and dedicated tutors who “sit-in” on their classes and then have follow-up virtual tutoring sessions. Many less fortunate students’ grades and higher education goals suffer, as they don’t have the support of an invaluable non-profit with tutors and college prep workshops. Donations helped fund critical programming and provided Supplemental Scholarship Awards to 12th graders to cover the cost of essentials such as: tuition gaps, books, SAT prep courses, college counselors, transportation to school or to visit colleges, college application fees, AP exam fees, laptops, dorm supplies, school supplies. Additionally, donated gift cards and almost 50 refurbished macs have gotten into students' hands. The macs are essential equipment that work in tandem with tutors and college prep programming to facilitate high school achievement, college and scholarship research and applications, and good outcomes like these: Janiya, a recent MacBook recipient and a Freshman at McKinley Tech is planning on studying Information Technology, Accounting & Finance in college. Another MacBook recipient, Desmond, is 1 of 10 DC public school students awarded a full tuition scholarship to American University. We also directed donations in the following ways: To support American Indian scholarship students in Spring 2020 with pandemic related Emergency Relief Funds; a student, Thomas (Muscogee Nation) expressing gratitude, remarked, “…thank you for the support and for believing in me and the rest of my people because we need change, and without education there will be no change.” ; Top-notch college prep programming for DC high school students who live in the city’s poorest neighborhoods, many with so much potential. I reflect on Anthony Anderson, pursuing a degree in music toward a profession in opera on full scholarship at Oberlin Conservatory. Had he not been a participant in an invaluable youth development program we supported, and immersed in a strong curriculum at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in DC, his gift and potential would not have flourished; To support American Indian scholarship students with Stay In School funds to help Native students stay in school and earn college degrees. American Indian students are among the most underserved when it comes to education. Without computers and internet access when forced to leave campus, their classes, housing, meals, and jobs, the pandemic related campus closures put students in even more precarious situations: job losses, housing and food insecurity, and college degrees at risk; A Supplemental Scholarship Award of an iPad to Anthony Anderson, a Junior at Oberlin Conservatory. Our mac wizard remarked, “an iPad for Anthony is like giving a musician an instrument!" Listen to his solo, “Deep River. Bottom line … these students with limited to no financial resources receive the support and help from others like us and you, their “village”, that their wealthier peers' families cover with ease. More to Do for 2021Donate now toward College Access & Supplemental Scholarship Funds that continue to support student programming for Juniors & Seniors in pursuit of higher education and upward mobility. We’ll also fulfill essential needs as they arise. For example, London, a past award recipient at Emory University, once again faces a scholarship/work-study/Pell Grant/student loan tuition gap that could impact his enrollment for spring semester if the additional $5,600 doesn’t materialize from small scholarships he’s applied for. Once he reports back in by early January what he was rewarded, any balance remaining will be covered and sent to Emory.Spread the Word via Instagram & Facebook Please help cultivate awareness of our students' conundrums and the importance of College Access Funds. Thank You to All Who Made Our 2020 Impact Possible!
MaryAnn, Chief Engagement Officer and Founder AllOutForChange® "For cyclist, trek with his new pal is the cat's meow" KidsPost, The Washington Post, November 17, 2020 Enjoy and hang onto the smile from this fun thought provoking very short story. For us, it’s fun, and also illustrates allegorically what a difference it makes in one and an other’s life when one seizes the opportunity to give a hand ... the mutual gift it cultivates. For example, through All Out for Change®, our supporters, Beth, Mitch and I, all experience the gift of knowing what a difference donations and refurbished computers will make in ambitious students’ lives … hope, high school diplomas, higher education scholarships and degrees, fulfilling careers and upward mobility. Would you like to start a supplemental scholarship award in your or someone else's name to support an ambitious student scholar in need? Why Supplemental Scholarship Awards? Education in the US, unlike other developed countries, is fraught with systemic injustice, built-in roadblocks for youth from families with limited financial resources. All Out for Change®, via organizations and students we support with College Access Funds and Supplemental Scholarship Funds, helps break through the roadblocks along the journey to achievement and upward mobility. Spread the Word via Instagram & Facebook Please help cultivate awareness of All Out for Change® and supplemental scholarship funds. In late summer 2017 I learned of a gifted student, full of talent and potential, who faced financial conundrums that threatened his aspirations to be an opera singer. I knew immediately upon meeting Anthony that we had stumbled upon our first grant recipient. WHY? See and hear for yourself- listen to his solo, “Deep River. And while you’re at it, spend a few more minutes listening to the eye-opening Today Show segment to learn more about Anthony and the challenges he and his peers with dreams and potential face in the pursuit of upward mobility and professional goals.  This fall I reached out to Anthony to see what he’s been up to and if he needed help with anything. An iPad was on his wish list but not within his tight budget. Our mac wizard remarked, “an iPad for Anthony is like giving a musician an instrument!" Thanks to a few donors we provided him with another grant in October for an iPad. We’re looking forward to Anthony's updates, additional solos, and the zoom opera he’s working on this semester that will explore homelessness through the pandemic. Stay Tuned! And while you're on the inspiring Stories page, give a shoutout for our student scholar, Anthony, via the Like/Share and Follow icons. London, an Aspiring Orthopedic Surgeon's $5,616 ConundrumLondon's tuition gap of $5,616 if not filled will prevent his enrollment spring semester. We helped London out of a pickle in August 2019 when he couldn't have registered for freshman year at Emory University without our grant to cover a scholarship tuition gap. He faces another shortfall for spring semester of $5,616, the balance due after the university's scholarship, Pell grant, student loans, and work-study aid. Every semester he submits numerous applications with essays seeking small obscure scholarship awards to cover the shortfall. London commented, "It creates a whole level of stress because you don't know who's going to help and when you'll hear from them. You may hear back eventually from one or two." We agreed to assist with whatever gap remains at year end; so some portion of College Access Fund donations may be directed towards his need. To donate, click on the button below. “We do not have to save the entire world on our own, but we can each repair some small corner of it,” writes former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in his book, A Reason to Believe, Lessons from an Improbable Life. YOUR DONATION IN ITS ENTIRETY IS INVESTED IN OUR STUDENT SCHOLARS Gratitude From All of Us!We, our students and their college counselors, program directors and tutors are grateful for all who have pitched in to support aspiring student scholars. Your help is essential! Unfortunately our dysfunctional educational system necessitates we step up to the plate for our students from working poor families to facilitate the pursuit of their dreams and upward mobility. There are too many youth in our country with potential that may never come to fruition. Our educational system not only does a grave disservice to many students, but it also fails to provide access to much needed technology. Thanks to Mac-alchemist Mitch, of MacsOnDemand, we can tackle the digital divide. Thus far, we've provided 46 refurbished mac laptops and desktops to students in need. This essential and invaluable tool allows 46 college-bound and college students to work virtually with tutors and college counselors, and stay on track for their degrees while classes have switched online. All Out for Change® is committed to standing behind all of them, and trust they will have great success on their journey. Would you like to start a supplemental scholarship award in your or someone else's name to support an ambitious student scholar in need? Please call or email to explore possibilities. Spread the Word via Instagram & Facebook Please help cultivate awareness of All Out for Change® and supplemental scholarship funds. Stay well and help make independence and achievement happen! MaryAnn, Chief Engagement Officer and Founder AllOutForChange® “Thirty million American students eat school meals. Of them, 22 million qualify for free and reduced-price meals.” |
MaryAnn PuglisiChief Engagement Officer, AllOutForChange.org Archives
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All Out for Change® raises awareness of less privileged high school students’ hurdles, supports high school graduates and college prep programs, and gives students more opportunities to pursue degrees, professions,
and upward mobility. 1431 21st St. NW · Suite 302 | Washington, DC 20036 | 202-857-8384 All Out for Change® is a registered 501(c)(3) charity: donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. |