A Message from Camp Ayandeh

Camp Ayandeh Needs Your Support

Dear IAAB Family,

We are thrilled that Camp Ayandeh is now going into its seventh year. Camp Ayandeh is IAAB's annual high school leadership camp and is staffed by current leaders in the Iranian American community. Camp Ayandeh first began in 2006 with its inaugural class of 19 and has grown every subsequent year to include over 130 campers, counselors and staff in 2011 - a record number of participants. At the heart of Camp Ayandeh is its mission, which has evolved with every new group of campers and staff. Today, we're asking you to be a part of Camp Ayandeh's continued success.

Each summer, we have welcomed back a growing number of returning campers as well as new faces from all around the country. Undoubtedly, what draws many participants back to Camp Ayandeh is the deep sense of family and community that is generated each summer. This sense of community goes hand in hand with a culturally and historically relevant curriculum that offers a supportive context in which campers can make of their shared experiences and develop as leaders. At the same time, distinct themes and activities ensure that the camp curriculum is always growing and responding to new issues that arise in our community. In 2012, Camp Ayandeh will continue to expand its curriculum by exploring diversity within the Iranian diaspora, as well as situating the diaspora in a global context.

We've grown in numbers. We've grown in the number of days camp is offered, from one week to nine days of programming in 2012. We've developed new curriculum each year, adding unique elements, and guest speakers that reflect a diversity of perspectives within the Iranian diaspora and help us build solidarity across communities. But most importantly we've grown in impact. Since the first year, campers have expressed the feeling of kinship and empowerment that comes from being part of this amazing experience. Participants really come to love and look out for each other like family and over the years this sentiment has only gotten stronger.

We want to ensure that every young Iranian American can have the opportunity to be part of and contribute to this experience. For some students, the costs of attendance may be a barrier to participation. Each year, IAAB has sought to ensure that all campers, regardless of their financial situtation, can attend Camp Ayandeh. With your help we can continue this commitment to access and equity, and accept more students into the Camp Ayandeh family.

Your support will also contribute to growing new models of education and youth development that serve young people in our community. By providing this gift, you will be giving our youth an invaluable experience that will have a meaningful impact on their future, and in turn, the future of the Iranian diaspora community. Without your generous support over the years, Camp Ayandeh would not exist and certainly would not have grown to include hundreds of today's brightest young leaders.

Thank you, on behalf of the entire IAAB family, for your continued support.

Camp Ayandeh Team 2012
Iranian Alliances Across Borders

Help us make 2012 our community's strongest year yet - support Camp Ayandeh by donating to IAAB today. No gift is too small.

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or by mailing a check payable to IAAB to:

154 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013

We thank you for your continued support of IAAB!