For 13 years SASEF has been working to provide education and educational resources for children and youth and YES we have been extremely successful. Last year we built two children's digital libraries which provided a safe space for hundreds of children to sit down and read a book, do homework, get help with computers, have someone to talk to and share information on what's going on in the neighborhood. Plus we provided scholarships to send six young people to college! This year we introduced The V Sign (www.thevsign.org) a self help sign for a child who has been kidnapped or stolen. Yes its new and we know it will take time but The V Sign will become the universal hand signal for anyone who is in trouble.

To date we have never paid a salary and continue to work via volunteers - this means every cent or every donation goes to helping children.

The Shirley Ann Sullivan Educational Foundation (SASEF) is a not for profit organization and has been implementing innovative educational projects for nearly ten years. As a grass roots organization, SASEF works very hard to raise money to facilitate our youth serving projects on four continents. SASEF education for employment conference and workshops has literally made the way for hundreds of young people to learn what is necessary to get and keep a real job. The project requires youth to belong to a youth led or youth serving organization or to join a youth led or youth serving organization and implement a community service project using the framework of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. To date many of our hard working young people have been hired at hotels, nonprofit institutions and in the private sector. In partnership with the YMCA in Brazil our International Reading Corners - Safe Spaces to Discover the World has provided a FREE children's and youth library. The library is open 6 days a week; there are volunteer tutors on site to help children with their homework. The space also provides second language lessons and many of the students have been identified by the City of Porto Alegre as translation Ambassadors for the 2014 games. SASEF’s Todd McQuillan Memorial Arts Fund (TMMAF) has made it possible for students to receive scholarships to study art, purchased a piano thus creating a music program in a public school. This year TMMAF in support of the United Nations International Year of Youth is the sole supporter of our Making a Difference Photography Contest where young people are asked to photograph what total social inclusion looks like to them. The contest will end August 2011 with a photography exhibition highlighting our contestants work in Brazil, Hungary, Germany, and Liberia. SASEF’s Alvalon Scholarship has built schools and paid tuition for children and youth to attend primary, secondary and vocational school. All scholarship youth who attend secondary and vocational school have a mentor working with them throughout the entire scholarship period. SASEF is a wonderful organization building better communities by providing education and opportunity for children and youth who otherwise might not have a chance to go to school, visit a library, have a free after school tutor to help with homework, or learn the valuable job skills allowing them to become self-sustaining human beings.