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MAJOR DONORS MADE IT
HAPPEN |
There were many
generous gifts made to the foundation. The
Foundation will always be grateful for the
generosity of Warrior Group, who remains the #1
financial supporter, by far, but HOAW received
significant gifts from other outside organizations
as well. Hensel Phelps Construction provided
a gift of $50,000, which paid for the Summer
Learning program. The Foundation is
truly thankful to Hensel Phelps for their
generosity.
Also extremely important were the
donations from Fleetwood Homes, Alcatel Lucent and
the many golf tournament sponsors too numerous to
name here. HOAW wants to
recognize Fleetwood employees, Doug Henriquez
and Jon Tinsley, who were very instrumental in
helping us raise sponsorships for the Golf
Tournament. HOAW Foundation sincerely thanks
these great companies for their support of the
HOAW mission of service to underserved
children.
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E5 LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMS |
Education.
Enrichment.
Exposure.
Enhancement.
Empowerment.
The Foundation
supports
programs that promote and develop
essential character qualities of leadership within
our participants. This, not only addresses
academics, but we feel a well-rounded person is
better prepared to lead in the future. Therefore,
we support cultural enrichment as well. We strive
to expose kids to experiences that expand their
world-view and foster the belief in the
possibilities of a full future. Lastly, we believe
that life skills are critical to be competitive in
adulthood.
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OUR
MISSION |
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Our mission is to
generate and facilitate resources that provide
total enrichment opportunities that are
educational, cultural, experiential, and life
enhancing, through programs targeting
underserved
children. |
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HEART OF A WARRIOR
FOUNDATION BOARD |
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Wendell
Hall
Executive
Director
Gail
Warrior-Lawrence
Chairman
Wayne
T.
Lawrence
President
Charnella
Derry
Treasurer
Susie
Bell
Secretary
Rozalind
R. Dickerson
Rebecca
Turner |
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A FOCUS ON
EDUCATION |
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The Foundation has a specific focus on
educational programs to help prepare lives for the
future. The foundation realizes that education can
have a positive impact on crime, support working
families, academic skills needed to advance in
education, and to keep kids
safe. | |
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LETTER
FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
When we look back on the year of 2008 I'm
sure no one will feel that this was an unexciting
year. So much happened of an historic nature
in 2008 that some say it will rival 1968 in the
lexicon of future historians. Words like
"toxic", "bailout" and "Ponzi" took on new
meanings and became part of the fabric of our
society. We had the worst economic crisis
befall us since the Great Depression. But,
we were also energized by the biggest change in
the history of this great country. For the
first time, as a nation, we put racial divisions
behind us to elect an African American, President
of the United States.
The economy and
domestic politics don't have a monopoly on big
news. The Heart of a Warrior Foundation had
a stellar year as well. In our 2nd year of
operations we saw the organization gel to come
together as a true service provider to underserved
children in Dallas. Organizationally,
we better defined who we are and what our mission
is. We framed our vision for what we want
the HOAW Foundation to be known for in years to
come. We took on some significant challenges
and projects and we delivered. Some of our
efforts were improvements on legacy events that
existed before we were formally recognized as a
non-profit corporation, while others were the
creation of new programs and events. But
what I can humbly say is that our volunteers, our
service partners and our board members tackled
each with gusto and met, or surpassed, the
expectations of our most passionate
stakeholders. And we can't forget the
generosity of our donors and particularly the
gifts from our largest benefactors, Warrior
Group, Hensel Phelps Construction and Fleetwood
Homes.
As I look forward to 2009 I am
so energized to take our service delivery up
another notch. We have laid out plans to far
surpass our best efforts of this past year.
I'm ready...I'm optimistic and together we will
make a difference in the lives of underserved
children.
All the
best,
Wendell Hall
Executive
Director, Heart of a Warrior Charitable
Foundation |
2008...A
RETROSPECTIVE IN
GROWTH AND
GAINS The Easter Bunny Made the 2008 Easter
Eggstravaganza 2008 a "Hopping"
Success.
 The Easter Eggstravaganza
was a big success with well over 100 kids and
closer to 150 kids, parents and volunteers.
HOAW created a carnival-like atmosphere for the
children with games, contests, music, mascots,
bounce houses, balloons and great food.
There was a solid team of volunteers to execute
the event. Also, the men of BlackOut Network
cooked and served the guests. The
Senior Citizen group of the Willie B. Johnson
Recreation Center stuffed over 1,300 plastic
Easter eggs with candy for the children's Easter
egg hunt.
The kind folks from Frito Lay
provided snacks and the Frito mascot, Chester
Cheetah, was on hand to watch over us.
Everyone quenched their thirst with
Snapple beverages, provided by Dr.
Pepper.
A special thanks goes to
Alcatel Lucent, whose generosity allowed us to
splurge on our guests in grand style. Their
funding covered the cost of this program and
allowed us to put on a wonderful event for the
children and families of Hamilton Park,
Dallas.
A New and Improved Logo was
Born
Have you ever heard the
expression that "branding is king"? Well
HOAW believes that to be true. As the
philanthropic arm of Warrior-Group (WG) it is
important that the Foundation's image supports
that of WG. As such, it was necessary to
create a much stronger linkage to
WG. The Foundation's old logo did
a great job in speaking to the child service
element of the HOAW mission. But
there was no linkage to WG and it had such a
strong kid appeal that it did not speak
effectively to the other stakeholders of the
Foundation, like corporations, community leaders
and other non-profits that HOAW partners with.
The new logo, designed by Elevated Studios,
pro bono, effectively delivers on all the missing
elements. In addition, it is a cleaner,
easier to read, less costly to print and much more
sophisticated looking.
Special
thanks go to Aaron Buck of Elevated Studios for
designing a logo that delivers on all the elements
that were presented in the creative brief!
OLD
NEW
Young
Warriors Learning Institute Kicks off with a
Blast...from K104 Radio
The Foundation kicked off the
 Summer Learning Program in
Hamilton Park with Group Excellence (GE)
administering the program. The Willie B.
Johnson Rec. Center and Hamilton Park Youth
Development Corp. and Hamilton Park United
Methodist Church were HOAW partners.
The program exceeded the
Foundation's target expectations with 60 kids
signed up and almost all of them were retained for
the whole program. On the opening day there
was representation present from the media (K104),
Councilman Jerry Allen, the Dallas Parks and Rec.
Office and the president of the Hamilton Park
Community Association, Thomas
Jefferson.
The
Inaugural Golf Tournament
A stellar fund raising Golf
Tournament was held at the famous Cowboys Golf
Club, where many had the opportunity to "Golf Like
a Warrior...And Enrich a Child's Life". That
day HOAW was supported by 136 golfers, 52
corporate sponsors, 31 volunteers and a host of
celebrities. The Foundation wants to
particularly thank our Honorary Co-chair Tony
Casillas and our managing Co-Chairs Betty Floyd
and Rebecca Turner. Without the tireless
effort of these folks HOAW could have never pulled
off a tournament of this quality. As a result
of the event the Foundation was able to grant
Girl's Incorporated of Metropolitan Dallas
$20,000.00. What an amazing team effort it
was!
Gail and Wayne pose with many of the
celebrities that were on-hand that
day
HOAW has already secured a
date for the 2009 Golf Tournament. The tournament
will return to the Cowboy's Golf Club on September
14, 2009. There is a 1:00pm shotgun start
planned. (See the "Year Ahead" section below for
more details.)
The New
Website
During the year HOAW
launched it's first website. However,
it needed refining to properly represent the
Foundation. The website was redesigned and
improved to better leverage the Foundation's
branding and create website navigation that
enhanced the user experience. The
Foundation's web designer produced a user-friendly
way of making donations directly to the Foundation
from the website. Check out the link to our
website in the bottom left corner of this
newsletter!
Board Retreat, Getting Focused
for the Future
HOAW held its first
Board Retreat where board members participated and
benefited from outstanding idea generation, vision
expansion, strategic planning and fantastic
program development. Through the amazing
group facilitation from Marilyn Bushey, of Growing
by Design, who donated her expertise and her
weekend, HOAW refined its mission and defined its
vision for the
future.
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Already, HOAW has a full plate in terms
of expansion plans and further improvements on its
2008 successes. The Foundation can't afford
to rest on its laurels nor can anyone get
complacent. One thing for sure is that there
will be greater competition for shrinking
financial resources in 2009.
The Foundation plans to double the impact of
the Easter Eggstravaganza by increasing child
participation by 100%. Additionally, the
goal is to ratchet up the "Wow" factor for
kids. The desire is for the quality of the
experience to be even more memorable. HOAW will
increase the WBJ Summer learning program
participation by 33%.
For the Golf Tournament HOAW will build on
the success and participation of last year by
having a sold out crowd, so you better book your team
early. The tournament will
return to the Cowboys Golf Club again this year.
The date is September14, 2009 and plan to tee off
with a shotgun start at 1:00 pm. You can go to the
HOAW website now to download a reminder to
register your team for the 2009 tournament.
The Foundation will open online registration very
soon, so check the website regularly - HOAW 2009 Golf Tournament
Site.To hit these goals the Foundation
will need everyone's support. You can be a
part of this successful mission. You can be
proud of the part that you play to bring needed
enrichment to underserved children. Own your
part of the success story. Here is how you
can help. Click the button below to go directly to
the Foundation's donation page of the
website. With a major credit card, you can
make a donation directly to the Foundation. It's
quick and easy and it takes only minutes. You will
immediately receive an email confirmation of your
gift. The Foundation also receives
notification that you cared enough to support the
Foundation's mission of enriching the lives of
underserved children.  |
HOW YOU CAN
HELP...
Please search your heart and let that
spirit drive your giving. It's not just kids that
can have the HEART OF A WARRIOR, you too can share
in the warrior spirit.
We've broken down the recommended gift
levels for Private Individual Gifts, every gift is
appreciated.
Private Individual Gifts
· Warrior of the 7 Summits Mountaineer -
$5,000*
· Warrior on the
Summit - $2,500
· Warrior at
Camp 4 - $1,000
· Warrior at
Base Camp - $500
· Warrior
on the Climbing Team - $250
· Warrior in Training - $100
*
Donors at this level automatically get a 4-person
team at the Golf Tournament
To make a contribution, contact the
Foundation at 972-228-7555 or mail your gifts
directly to:
Heart of a Warrior Charitable
Foundation
Attn: Wendell Hall, Executive
Director
1624 Falcon Dr., Suite 102
DeSoto,
TX 75115
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