Community Giving Program

At Designed Instruction, we believe it is not enough to provide quality business services to other companies, or quality products to educators and parents. We trust that communities, and the people that comprise those communities, hold the principal claim to our society. The primary solutions to our basic needs, and resources for addressing those needs, lie with each of us as citizens, whether individuals or business entities. As the "shareholders" of our community, it is also up to each of us to take action to fulfill those needs. Toward this end, Designed Instruction devotes itself to giving back to those for whom we ultimately exist, and those whom we ultimately serve. Our giving program encompasses four general categories of endeavor—youth health and fitness, community collaborative learning partnerships, character building, and awareness and information access.

Youth Health and Fitness
At Designed Instruction, we believe that a healthy body contributes to a healthy mind. It is important that our youth have opportunities to participate in wholesome recreational activities, and that they have parks and playgrounds, sports programs that are available to all children and that are affordable to all parents, and community leaders and businesses that take a part in their well-being. Through such efforts, these children will also learn to one day give back to people in need in their own communities, and understand that opportunity for all benefits everyone in our society.

While in Colorado, Designed Instruction contributed to the Aurora Youth Sports and Recreation Service's programs as a title sponsor for the city youth tennis team. The team competed in the summer of 2003 as a member of the statewide CARA program.

In Texas, we've broadened our involvement with such programs through sponsorship of local rag ball tournaments, allowing the Sundown Livestock Association to raise money to help their young members with stock show entry fees, travel expenses, and college scholarships while encouraging healthy competition and physical activity. Designed Instruction has contributed to the health of local youth by donating to parent and student groups sponsoring chemical-free parties following prom and graduation at Sundown High School. By encouraging students to attend safe, fun-filled evenings with lots of prizes instead of participating in other common activities (including underage drinking and drug use) that often take place following such occasions, we help them understand that there are healthier, safer alternatives to chemical use and abuse.

Community Collaborative Learning Partnerships
Designed Instruction supports efforts on behalf of a variety of community institutions committed to providing learning opportunities for our youth at a local level, including financial and volunteer support for special youth events, and learning initiatives that focus on specific education objectives such as early literacy for young children. These efforts are supported through diligent volunteerism on the part of Designed Instruction staff, financial sponsorship of learning exhibits, free materials for distribution to children and families who would not otherwise have tangible learning products and activities to use with their children, and such needs as refreshments and t-shirts. Designed Instruction works to encourage other businesses to contribute matching services and materials, thereby helping to forge collaborative efforts on behalf of the entire community to ensure that our learning institutions can provide these additional services.

While in Colorado, Designed Instruction supported annual children's fairs and elementary graduation ceremonies at local schools in the Cherry Creek School District, and was instrumental in encouraging like contributions from a number of local businesses. Designed Instruction's free PreKorner™ materials represent some of our initial successes toward ensuring resources at no cost for parents, preschool teachers, and child care providers. Large numbers of parents and preschool child educators are benefiting from this free access to quality research-based activities that can be done at home or in preschool classroom settings. We worked with the Arapahoe Library District to assist their efforts toward early childhood literacy, as well as supported a physical exhibit in one of their new libraries.

In Texas, we've continued to expand those efforts in several arenas. Through sponsorship of summer reading programs at Sundown Branch Public Library, children's reading skills improve as they learn to love reading. This program also gives them something fun to look forward to during the summers. Donations of t-shirts and trading pins to the local Destination ImagiNation® teams allow students to participate fully in the creative competition without the embarrassment of not having the items that other teams have at Regional and Affiliate Tournaments. Educational and fun DVDs donated to Sundown Middle and High Schools (make hot and link to http://www.sundownISD.com/) create a robust offering from which any family and all children in our community can derive benefit. Participation in t-shirt advertisements that contribute to a college scholarship for local students enables a new generation to contribute to an intellectual and learned community in the future. By donating to the Sundown Historical Preservation Society, Designed Instruction has helped to preserve historical artifacts from the area and create a place of beauty and interest in a city park for all to enjoy.

Character Building
At Designed Instruction, we believe that character can be taught and, when modeled, passed from one generation to another, as well as from one person to another. To that end, we are proud to sponsor character-teaching programs at schools in the Sundown Independent School District. Students are encouraged to display the character traits of respect, honesty, fairness, caring, responsibility, perseverance, and courage by earning character coupons from school personnel who observe them demonstrating these traits. The coupons are then used to win money in jumping competitions, co-sponsored by Designed Instruction. Our employees interact with the students in these competitions, allowing youngsters the opportunity to have positive moments with adults who care about them outside of the school.

The employees of Designed Instruction are willing participants in many charitable activities, including Operation Christmas Child®, Sundown Christmas for Kids, and food donations to local senior citizen centers and food banks. Designed Instruction's president, Greg Rawls, serves on a voluntary basis as a school board trustee for the Sundown Independent School District. Other employees volunteer for the booster club, school improvement committee, and tutoring program. Through their activities, character is passed on... and on... and on.

Awareness and Information Access
At Designed Instruction, we believe that information translates into knowledge. We are constantly working to improve the scope, depth, and reliability of information available to parents and members of our local, national, and international community by providing information and awareness, through our Web site, e-mail, and toll free phone inquiry lines. We are presently building an information network that will provide unique avenues for access and awareness for diverse populations in the U.S., and seek to do the same in other areas of the world that often have difficulty acquiring information to help further education in their community. At Designed Instruction, real people respond free-of-charge to questions and, where possible, requests for assistance, because we hold that when members of our community seek, they should find. We respond, and remain always available to share our knowledge and assist with promoting the education awareness that will lead to appropriate action on the part of those who matter most—our parents, our teachers, our caregivers, and our business and community leaders who take their responsibility to our children and our future seriously.

Financially, most of the current giving efforts at Designed Instruction are centered on our local community. However, where true needs exist, we encourage any individuals or organizations who are freely volunteering their time and resources to worthy causes that support the above objectives to get in touch with us. Inquiries, suggestions, and ideas regarding worthwhile efforts should be addressed to:

giving@designedinstruction.com
Or, call toll free at 1-888-276-2299