Recently, I visited The Ideas Partnership (TIP), a non-profit that works with very poor children in Fushe Kosove, a town adjacent to Kosovo’s capital city, Prishtina. Located in an area where trash picking is the primary means of livelihood for most families, TIP provides vital services to children and their families, including a kindergarten, enrichment and educational programs, and support for children enrolling in the public schools. The families here are members of minority groups in Kosovo who face much isolation and discrimination. While Roma are the best known, Fushe Kosove also has Pashtines and Egyptians who migrated here when this was part of the Ottoman Empire. People are not sure exactly where these last two groups originated despite the latter’s name. TIP does wonderful work, and the Bill Cook Foundation plans to help them. It is difficult and costly to enroll students in public high schools because of complex rules and even quota systems. But, our contribution to The Ideas Partnership will assure these students have access to a high school education. We need your help. Now is a great time to make a gift because we distributed quite a bit of money at the beginning of the school year and need to replenish our funds for projects in Central America, India, Myanmar, and Vietnam as well as Kosovo. You can send a check, made out to the Bill Cook Foundation, to Bill Cook Foundation, 3 Oak Street, Geneseo, NY 14454. Or, you can give by credit card by going online to www.billcookfoundation.org. We are a 501(c)(3), so all contributions are tax deductible. Thank you.
