An OPEN LETTER to … Brett Andrews, Gary Glessner, Steve Wharton & Eric Snodgrass …

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Gentlemen of The Glessner Group:

You are soooo correct that every kid counts, especially now that – without warning – the Governor of West Virginia pulled the plug on the state’s School Voucher Program and has since refused a restart despite the insistence from Treasurer Larry Pack that there’s plenty of money in the coffers.

No worries, and that’s because you’ve stepped up by creating the “Back to School Initiative” and partnering with the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley to administer the program for families and their children in Ohio and Marshall counties. The four of you have stoked the fund with the first $10,000, and this week, Expand Energy and Lisa and Barry Allen became sponsors as well.

You’ve made the eligibility guidelines and the application process simple and accessible, so the folks who qualify can get the help they need. In doing so, you’ve saved the first day of school for so many children, and you’ve successfully reminded everyone that our kids should be on the top of our collective priority list – and not just now because they’ll soon head back to their classrooms.

So, gentlemen, our motives for writing are simple: Thank you, we appreciate you, and we hope the news of the “Back to School Initiative” spreads as far as necessary.

Because kids should always come first.

Sincerely,

Neighbors to Neighbors

P.S. The LINK to the program’s details and application can be found HERE.

Steve Novotney
Steve Novotney
Steve Novotney has been a professional journalist for 34 years, working in print for weekly, daily, and bi-weekly publications, writing for a number of regional and national magazines, hosting baseball-related talks shows on Pittsburgh’s ESPN, and as a daily, all-topics talk show host in the Wheeling and Steubenville markets since 2004. Novotney is the co-owner, editor, and co-publisher of LEDE News, and is the host of “Novotney Now,” a daily program that airs Monday-Friday from 3-6 p.m. on River Talk 100.1 & 100.9 FM.

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