Dear Friends,

On a beautiful sunny day in May 2006, a pretty little four year old girl named Maya spent a wonderful afternoon at the Lincoln Park Zoo with her mother and her older brother, but when they left the zoo they did not all make it home.

It has been four years since Maya Hirsch was tragically killed while crossing a street in Lincoln Park, hit by a driver who ignored a stop sign at a crosswalk. We cannot bring her back, but she is never forgotten. In her honor, the Stop For MayaFoundation continues to collaborate with our partners for increased pedestrian safety measures in and around the city of Chicago.

This year’s passage of HB 43 by the Illinois Assembly requires drivers to come to a complete stop for pedestrians in all intersections. A group of Curie High School students participating in the Active Transportation Alliance’s Drive With Careprogram were praised for their lobbying efforts around this bill; the students were inspired to act after learning Maya’s story. As a 2009 funder of the Drive With Careprogram, Stop For Maya is proud to be associated with this amazing group of young people working to increase safety in their community.

We have also deepened our involvement with the Heartlight Program at Children’s Memorial Hospital. Supporting the trauma team at CMH is particularly important to the Hirsch family, and with our 2009 donation, Heartlight established new counseling programs specifically for medical providers, to help hospital staff members process the emotional stress of their work.

None of this would be possible without your continued support and generous contributions. Please consider making a gift in 2010 in honor of Maya, and the causes her Foundation supports.

We hope to see you at the 4th annual Walk For Maya on Sunday, September 26th.

Ilana Balaban

Renee Hirsch

Maya’s Grandmothers

To register for the walk, please click here.