Dear WCS Parents,

You’re probably tired of e-blasts, and I don’t blame you. This one, though, is really, really important. (Being around teenagers daily tends to cause you to write like one.)

I’d like to invite you to spend an evening with me and the rest of the Western Christian staff at our Legacy Dinner Auction on Saturday, April 20. This is a special night when the entire school community gathers to have fun and remember together that God is good and He is doing great things in the lives of our children.
I asked my 5 year old son the other night as I was putting him to bed, “Logan, what’s most important to you?” He thought for a second, and with a toothy smile he said, “That God loves me!” The truth of that statement and the purity of his response cut me to the heart. Logan’s joy in God was a product not only of our faith at home but it was/is directly connected to what God wants Logan to experience at school. Stories like this should be a reason for celebrating. I’m proud to say that my son is one of nearly 1,000 students in Western Christian who experience this every day.

I remember when I first attended Western in the 7th grade. My mother, recently abandoned by my father, couldn’t afford to send me or my sister to Western Christian. Putting it plainly, we had nothing. I remember how desperately she wanted me to be surrounded by wonderful people at Western Christian because she knew that I needed them in my life, that God was going to use them to communicate the hope and future that He had for me. Without the generosity of Western Christian and those who donated to the school, I would have been deprived of the daily reminder that my son hears through his wonderful teacher every day: “God loves me.”

In meeting with families, I constantly encounter the reality that they cannot afford to send their students to Western Christian without some kind of tuition assistance. They’ve lost jobs, or their hours have been dramatically cut. They’re forced to choose between groceries and rent or Christian education. Their worry and their fear about the future of their children breaks my heart. They are forced to make a decision that they do not want to make and should not have to make.

Rather than raising money for “things” this year, we want the proceeds of this auction to go directly to tuition assistance. Make no mistake, there are families today, right now who are considering leaving Western Christian because they simply cannot afford it. These students might be your student’s friends; they might be individuals who have a lifelong impact on the lives of your children. They are certainly kids that God loves, and I believe that God wants them in a school where Jesus is praised and worshipped.

Please come to the auction this year. Your generosity and commitment can and will change the lives of students. It changed my life, and I am so grateful (Logan is too).

Please RSVP by April 10 either by mail or online at www.westernchristian.org/legacy

Grace and Peace,

John Attwood
Vice Principal & Dean of Academics
Western Christian High School