A season of giving

Greetings!

All of us at the Graduate Management Admission Council have been granted a gift. To some extent, our gift was earned; but there is also a generous measure of good fortune. We will be able to ride out the present storm and, we expect, to emerge on the other side stronger than ever. But we all believe that with that gift comes an obligation to share the bounty of this good fortune that we have been given with those who are less fortunate than we are.

For a dozen years now, we have elected not to send holiday cards to our friends, colleagues and business partners. Instead, we have “adopted” the children of families in the area who could use some help making the holidays merry. The nearby mall has an Angel Tree on which these children hang small cards sharing their dreams for the holidays. This year, we adopted 66 children from 26 families. They range in age from as young as six months to as old as 17 years.

And for those of you with inquiring minds, bikes are once again filling our halls here—19 kids asked for (and will get) a new bicycle this year. There is a little pink one (even the tires are pink...for the moment) with streamers coming from the handle bars at one extreme. At the other end of the spectrum is an aggressive-looking VFX, Magna Dual Suspension mountain bike. (Whatever happened to plain old red bikes with no gears and pedal brakes?) For little girls there is The Littlest Pet Shop-for the little boys, there are Leap Frog Learning toys.

All of us at GMAC want to wish you a wonderful holiday. May 2009 be a year in which your dreams are fulfilled.

Best wishes,
Dave