This is what long-term impact looks like—not just students staying in school, but students becoming leaders, returning to give back, and ensuring that the cycle of support continues.

In 2018, we held our first Make Our Day Camp at The Good Shepherd. Eighty-two students grades 1 to 4 showed up.

In 2018 the school only went up to grade 4. But our students kept growing and we kept not wanting to let them go.....because there was no where else for them to go.

In 2025, we had 27 counselors, 3 alumni staff, and over 300 campers who came with all the magic, memories, and experiences of camps past.

Many of these counselors and all the alumni staff have received direct financial aid from Make Our Day donors over the years to pay school tuition, obtain legal ID status, or help with emergency expenses.

The long term result - they're still here and they're paying it forward. The students who once stood in these same shoes as the campers, unsure of their future, are now the role models shaping the next generation of Tacocats.

It's time to launch my birthday sponsorship drive - the fundraiser that will determine how many students get their tuition paid for the 2025 / 2026 school year.

The counselors and alumni staff don't need it anymore...because the investment you've made in them over the past few years worked. 

The direct sponsorship allowed their families to to choose hope over fear at a crucial time and that had a long term impact.

We have a new class of munchkins whose families are at that crucial point now - drowning in bills and asking themselves the same heartbreaking question: Will the munchkins go to work or school?

It’s time to tip the scales in favor of hope again—for the next generation of students at risk of disappearing into the workforce too soon.

If we step in now, just like we did in 2018, these Grade 4 students will have a real shot at staying in school.

They won’t need help forever. But they do need help right now.  With 30 students who have gone before them, we can go to the families with more than hope this time...we can go with proof.

This is what long term impact looks like.  If my Tacocat 2.0s are able to choose hope over fear and stay in school past the 4th grade, I would love nothing more for my birthday than to do this all over again with a new generation.

If you can sponsor 1 month to 1 year of tuition for my annual INTERNATIONAL Taco Party Fundraiser - it would Make Our Day.

Love From Munchkinland,

Teacher Katie