Dear Preschool Supporter:

At LAUP, we work diligently to ensure that children across Los Angeles County have better access to high-quality preschool education at little or no cost to their families.

The preschool cause in California received a boost recently in the state Legislature, when the Senate unanimously voted in support of an LAUP-sponsored resolution that encourages Senators to promote early education programs in their communities.

A new downtown Los Angeles restaurant called Tossed recently held a creative salad recipe contest aimed at raising money for Los Angeles County preschools.

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a state budget for Fiscal Year 2012-13 that makes difficult cuts to early learning programs, but avoids the disastrous plans released by the governor earlier in the year.

Editor's Note: The following article was submitted by LAUP Family Child Care provider Ofelia Aguilar. Aguilar owns and operates a preschool program in South El Monte and participated in the RENEW grant program.

"My personal story about participating in the Renew/LAUP Health and Wellness Project is very interesting. I knew that making healthy choices was very important, but I didn't know how to help families to be more conscious about what choices they were making for their children.

It's the kids. We do it for the kids. And that is where your donation goes: to programs, classrooms and quality education that directly benefits the kids of Los Angeles County. Your investment in the children of our community pays a lifetime of positive returns. Your donation, no matter what size, helps another child move that much closer to obtaining a high-quality preschool education, which prepares them for a successful future thanks to the proven benefits of preschool education. On behalf of all the children of LAUP, we thank you for your donation and welcome you to the LAUP family.