Thank you all for being part of the circle of love that flows between Odyssey students, staff and supporters! Your gifts in 2020 allowed us to support our students and alumni as they valiantly overcame obstacles during these unimaginably challenging times.
We continue to need help with technology access to enable students to fully participate in class. Thanks to donated laptops from American Family Insurance and gifts from many of you, we addressed the technology gap last semester. One Odyssey graduate expressed her gratitude by noting, “As an Onward Odyssey student, I need a laptop and internet access at home to help make sure I don’t fall behind in my studies. Education is the path to pull families up out of poverty, and I couldn’t do that without your help and support. Thank you!”
Angela Davis, development director at the Madison Community Foundation and staff liaison to A Fund for Women (AFFW), reached out to Jenny Pressman, Odyssey’s director of development and community partnerships, at the start of the fall semester to ask how AFFW could help Odyssey bridge the technology gap. That phone call led to an emergency grant of $5,000 to provide Wi‑Fi access and tech support to 10 students. Acting on its goal to help underserved women, including single mothers in Odyssey, Angela and the AFFW advisory committee noted, “We’re not just funding 10 students but 10 families.” That insight conveys how fully Angela knows — and loves — our community. (To learn more about Angela, check out her recent profile in Brava magazine.)
Angela continued, “We love Odyssey because it plants the seeds for the future,” something many of you have similarly said explains your support of our programs and students. Angela also asked that we “Tell those students we see them!” Putting the focus on our students is what makes Angela, A Fund for Women and all our donors special. Your gifts are a kind of valentine, flowing from you to us to students and back to you!