In a January letter to alumni who had been involved in independent study in the department, especially with Dr. Street, the department asked alumni to consider a gift specifically to the Jim Street Fund Endowment.  The request was part of an effort to double the value of that endowment.  The reason – we have more students who want to do more research and present or attend more meetings at greater distances than in the past.  Including two December gifts to the Fund, your response has been very gratifying and your gifts will begin to make a difference immediately as we plan next year’s work.  As the inset figure illustrates, 15 donors have generously responded with a wide range of gifts that cumulate to $5,125 at this writing.  Several of these gifts were made by people that we haven’t heard from in a long time.  That is truly an impressive response.
 What I would like to point out to all of our alumni is that there are more than 300 of you out there and more than two thirds of you learned something of significance to you from Jim Street.  If each of you were to make a modest gift to the Street Fund, I believe we could achieve the goal!  If you are considering such support, please don’t forget that you must specify the “James S. Street Fund.”  Thank you for your confidence.