To:                  usma1968-forum@west-point.org

 Subject:           USMA Class of 1968 - Class Gift Status and Update

Dear Classmates,

    As we head into the holiday seasons and approach the end of this year, I just wanted to send you a quick note as a follow-up to the two you received from Paul DeCoursey and John Calabro about the status of our class gift –the Rotunda of the new Jefferson Hall Library.  As Paul pointed out in his letter of 1 September, we are about 70% complete in achieving the 2004 end of year goal for the class gift.  But as Paul stated, we still need your help for both this year’s goal of $1.0 million and then again for the final push to complete the goal of $2.5 million by our reunion in 2008.

John Calabro followed up on 14 October with a status update on the Class of ’68 gift and a status report on the Library from Dan Kaufman.  The good news was that during the month, we had collected $58,345. The bad news was that we were still $234,040 short of our $1.0 million goal.  Dan announced that the Congress had approved the $60 million for the construction of the Library.  Now the pressure is on because the construction of Jefferson Hall will begin in the Spring/Summer time.  We now have to honor our pledge.

During this past month, we have again closed the gap for our end of 2004 pledge of $1.0 million, but not nearly enough.  We received a total of $50,000 this month.  For those of you who have contributed, we thank you. For those of you that have made a pledge and not yet paid, we would like you to consider helping us close the gap before the end of the year.  Finally, for those of you who have not yet pledged, we would like you do so or just send in a contribution to the Class of 1968 Gift Fund. We need everyone’s help as we want this to be truly a class gift.  If your company or corporation has a matching gift plan, please speak with them about the Library and your gift.

Please send your gift contribution directly to John Calabro, Association of Graduates, 698 Mills Road, West Point, NY 10996.  Your help is needed during this season of giving.  Any gift you make is totally tax deductible. Hopefully the gift you make will help your personal finances as you close out your tax requirements for this year.  More importantly, it will help the Class of 68 and West Point.

I wish you all a great Turkey Day.  After we BEAT NAVY, I will send you one more update in mid-December so that we can finish our drive and accomplish our 2004 goal of $1.0 million by 31 December.

Thank you and take care,

Dave Ohle

President