1. November 16, 2016
P.S. Turn this letter over to read what
Money Coach Murray Friedman has to say!
Brenda,
I’m Taleavia. You may know me as a poet, a Bucks fan or as
one of the 7,253 teens that Make A Difference – Wisconsin
empowered last year.What you might not realize is that your
support is still part of my everyday life – and my mother’s.
I started school this fall at Howard University inWashington,
D.C. I wanted to write to you to share how being smarter
with money is making my life better and is also helping my family
800 miles away back home on the northwest side of Milwaukee.
First, to everyone in Milwaukee … OMG, I miss everything! I really miss my city and my
family. I miss my monthly Money Coach sessions. However, one of the great things is
that even after you’ve completed the program, it’s still part of your life.
After learning how bank accounts work, I opened my first savings account. I taught
my mom how important it was and she opened hers as well. Now she’s teaching my
brothers and sisters to do the same.
Everything I learned from Money Coach – budgeting, saving,
spending carefully – I’m still doing now that I’m out on my own.
The week I got to D.C., I opened a new local savings account. I’m tracking what I
spend and I buy food in bulk for my dorm room. I’m getting a campus job and even
hope to earn extra savings from performing my poetry. I feel so much better prepared
than many of my fellow freshman.
Thanks to the support of people like you, I am able to save, spend and live
independently. I now know that in order to be financially happy, you have to “make
money yours.”
I’m grateful for all the people who helped me get to this exciting point in my life. I’m
18 and I’m living my dreams!
I hope you will support Make A Difference so that thousands of other teens just like
me can make smart decisions and feel confident and free when it comes to money.
Thank you,
Taleavia Cole
Money Coach alum, 2015-16 & Howard University, Class of 2020

2. Dear Brenda:
You’ve made an incredible impact on Taleavia and the other 55,000 teens reached
since Make A Difference was founded in 2006. This decade of impact prompted me to
reflect on my experiences as a volunteer and board member. It also reminded me of the
challenges ahead for so many other teens.
Nothing demonstrates our impact better than being in the classroom with students. In a
matter of weeks in our program, we see students putting our “needs versus wants” lesson
into action. Like Taleavia they change their spending habits and start saving toward their
goals.
Your support changes lives.
Today’s teens cannot afford for us to wait. Our goals this
year are to reach 8,000 students in our Money Sense
program, and expand our Money Coach program to serve
200 more at-risk teens. To make this possible we’ve set a
goal of $50,000 for this campaign.
None of this is possible without you.
Please consider increasing your investment to continue this life-changing impact for our
youth. They are, after all, the future leaders, workers and fiber of our community.
Murray Friedman
Volunteer Money Coach and Board Member
Make A Difference - Wisconsin
Coach Murray (second to right) with Money Coach
participants and Buck’s guard Jerryd Bayless.
$100Provides Money
Sense lessons to two
students this year
$20/month
Provides Money
Sense lessons to five
students this year
$350Provides one Money
Coach student with
a scholarship
Will you consider a life-changing gift
for teens like Taleavia?