Ever the Best of Friends

Dear Friends,

As the chair of the Friends of the Dickens Project board and as a fellow attendee at the Dickens Universe for many years, I’m writing to let you know about some of the Dickens Project’s current initiatives and to ask for your support.

We are still rebuilding post-pandemic and are building anew. Our focus has been on growing our overall community and reaching new high school and community college teachers and students by extending the Dickens Day of Writing to new cities and schools and, this year, via a new NEH Summer Institute on “Great Expectations in the Global Imaginary” at UC Santa Cruz for secondary school educators. For the second year in a row, we’re hosting a Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Program intern who will help us build collaborations for the Dickens Day of Writing. We’re also working with a California Community College English instructor to get the word out about our scholarship program for Universe attendees.

Your generosity keeps the Universe and the Dickens Project going. With no funding from the university, we must be completely self-supporting. We need your help urgently to preserve the Universe and continue the Dickens Project’s other flagship programs.

You can help now in several ways:

• Make a one-time donation
• Give a recurring monthly or annual contribution–the most helpful form of giving since it creates a predictable and stable flow of income for the Project

This year, the Friends will again match dollar-for-dollar all gifts to the Dickens Project up to $25,000, so anything you can give will have double the impact.

You have our heartfelt gratitude for participating in the Universe and keeping the Dickens Project alive and flourishing.

With warm regards,
Michael Stern