Dear Friend --

We are proud to report that we just wrapped up our hugely successful toy and book drive in support of the children being temporarily housed at our humanitarian shelter. Our community came together and donated an amazing 30,000 toys and books for the children. They now have a large library of books to choose from to read at their own leisure and plenty of toys, games and drawing materials to spark their imaginations.

Today we are announcing a new community campaign to bring letters of encouragement to the children as they await reunification or placement with a sponsor. This is another great volunteer opportunity.

From today through Saturday, May 22, the community can drop off encouraging letters for the children at various locations throughout the city. U.S. Health and Human Services staff will provide these letters directly to the children and also display them in the shelter so the children can read positive messages from the community throughout their stay.

For the letter-writing campaign, the letters should:

• Be 8.5 x 11 inches in size
• Be one-sided only
• Be in English or Spanish
• Contain appropriate pictures and drawings if able
• Be unsealed if placed in an envelope

Letters can be dropped off at the following locations:
The Long Beach Public Library (LBPL) will accept letters from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, at the following LBPL To-Go locations:

• Billie Jean King Main Library, 200 W. Broadway
• Bay Shore Library, 195 Bay Shore Ave.
• Bret Harte, 1595 W. Willow St.
• Los Altos, 5614 Britton Dr.
• Mark Twain, 1401 E. Anaheim St.
• Michelle Obama, 5870 Atlantic Ave.

Letters can also be dropped at the following area hotels from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily:

• Golden Sails Hotel, 6285 Pacific Coast Hwy.
• Hilton Long Beach, 701 W. Ocean Blvd.
• Holiday Inn Long Beach Airport, 2640 N. Lakewood Blvd.
• Long Beach Airport Marriott, 4700 Airport Plaza Dr.
• Westin Long Beach, 333 E. Ocean Blvd.

This type of compassion is what Long Beach is all about. I’m looking forward to continuing to support these kids through this letter-writing campaign and I thank everyone who has participated so far.

Thank you,

Mayor Robert Garcia