Dear PanZOu friends, parents, and partners,

As you all know the economy has cause quite a bit of struggle in all of our lives. It has indeed touched everyone I know. But perhaps most distressing is the effect it has had on the most marginalized among us, and worsened further by the diminished capacity of those who serve them. PanZOu, unfortunately, has not been able secure enough funding at this time and must close almost entirely. We have not lost hope! We know this moment will be temporary for we know the value of the work we do, and surely others do too. We will re-open. Until then, myself, Nathalie and Micheline will be there to carry us through this time thanks to the Children's Trust and possibly the City of North Miami Beach. We cannot accept new referrals at this time and please bear with us if we delay in getting back to you - we are trying to do as much as possible with as little as possible.

To our partners, we are grateful to you for absorbing many of our clients that we cannot bear to leave without services. It has been a pleasure to work with you over these years to provide the kind of wrap around services that lead entire families out of crisis instead of just one individual. Also, we wish we could continue to provide training, conflict resolution, presentations, and such at your schools, conferences, churches and organizations but we just cannot at this time. We have always done this as a service to our community and look forward to doing it again someday.

We have served thousands of residents in need over the last five years and we have done so joyously. But it is the 400+ of highest risk youth we have served that always touch us the most. These youth and families we come to know intimately. We have fed you, clothed youth, held your hand at sonograms, wept at your funerals, advocated for you at school, taken you to the dentist, the prenatal clinic, the eye doctor and bought you glasses. We shouted the loudest at your graduation, wrote recommendations for jobs and for college, we put collect on our phones when you went to jail, and showed up with groceries when you came home from prison. We have celebrated each of your birthdays with a cake and candles, answered your calls in the middle of the night, took you to church, travelled 4 hours to see you play college football, bought cleats for your lil brothers, and held your newborn babies - twice we even helped bring your children into this world! We constantly tell you to pull up your pants, be kinder, brush your teeth, and believe in yourself. Because we love you. Because we see the beauty in you. We don't care what your hair looks like but pull those darn pants up. Wear your seat belts and take responsibility for your actions. Live your word. Be better fathers.

Every single one of us at PanZOu believes in our mission and knows the value of "saving just one" because each of our kids has the potential for greatness. PanZOu will not stay closed for long...we have too many kids counting on us. Yesterday we laid off 14 people that are like family. Today I came to an empty office. By the end of the day the kids filled the office with laughter again, making me feel less alone.

A word about our new social enterprise, PanZOu Screen Printing & Embroidery - We are still open!! Many of you belong to organizations that buy t-shirts, polos, bags, and other decorated apparel items. You can help us by giving our screen printing shop the opportunity to do business with you. We have a trained team standing by for your order. All revenue generated by the shop goes back into non profit, allowing us to provide much need jobs to the hardest to employ. They work per job so remember, the more jobs we get, the safer our community becomes.

Thank you for all your support. I will try to keep you informed as we struggle through this difficult time. Also, donations are always welcome. Thank you for each of your contributions thus far!
Warm regards,
Ms. Laura

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Laura Kallus
Executive Director
PanZOu Project, Inc.
1541 NE 167th Street
North Miami Beach, FL 33162
T: 305-956-2523
F: 305-956-2529
lkallus@panzouproject.org
www.panzouproject.org