Support America - Iraq School Partners

***7/1/06: Final Update--The America-Iraq School Partners program has successfully completed the school year 2005-2006.  Participant schools in three provinces of Iraq; Basra, in the south, Baghdad, in the center, and Sulaymaniyah in the north successfully partnered with US schools located in 15 states.   Hundreds of letters have been written with Iraqi students telling about their daily lives, history and individual aspirations.  Much appreciation goes to the US schools for their sincere effort to partner with Iraqi schools and provide generous donations. Spirit of America realized the value of exposing Iraqi children to the American values of democracy and freedom through a connection with their peers in the US.  In this effort, Spirit of America provided the financial means for this valuable program to come into being, the benefits from which will be realized in years to come. With Spirit of America’s one year commitment complete, funding for the next school year will be provided by another nonprofit, Generation Iraq at "http://www.generationiraq.org" If you are interested in participating for the next school year, please contact Tamara Quinn at tamara@generationiraq.org office number 615-248-4846. Thank you again for your continuous support and generosity.

Schoolchildren like these from Iraq will participate in the School Partners Program. Your donation will reduce the direct expense to participating American and Iraqi schools.

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About School Partners
Spirit of America has launched the America-Iraq School Partners Program to create partnerships and friendships between American and Iraqi schools. In this program American and Iraqi schools are matched (elementary, middle school, high school) for at least one school year.
Goals of the School Partners program include:
• Build understanding and friendships between Iraqi and American children.
• Assist the development and improvement of education in Iraq.
• Demonstrate that the Iraqi people are not alone in their struggle to establish a free and peaceful society.
The core of the School Partners program is establishing connections and communication between the participating schools. This includes student-to-student, teacher-to-teacher and principal-to-principal communication. Spirit of America has invested in the infrastructure needed to support ongoing communication and information exchange including the hiring of Iraqi staff who can translate materials and serve as a coordinators and communication go-betweens among the participating schools. Spirit of America also handles the shipment to Iraq and logistics associated with any donated goods.
Additionally, American schools may provide gifts of friendship to their partner schools in Iraq such as supplies, books or equipment. This is at the discretion of the American school and would be expected to be funded privately by the school’s parents, students, local businesses and community – not by the school itself.
Spirit of America has provided a “Greetings From” booklet template that will allow schools to introduce themselves. The guide booklet also provides a template for typical school information.
If you would like your school to participate in this program, please email us at tamara@spiritofamerica.net.

For More Information
For more information about this project check our blog for updates or download our School Partners Program package. You can email us at staff@spiritofamerica.net with any questions or ideas.

Use of funds
We are a 501c3 nonprofit and your donation is tax deductible. 100% of all project donations (excluding credit card processing fees) will be used for direct project expenses (i.e., purchase and shipping of the needed goods and services). We do not deduct fees or expenses for organization overhead. Those expenses are funded separately. Donation Policy Your donation will be earmarked for this project. Donations in excess of those needed by this project will be used to support other Spirit of America projects.