Tara White, the founder and president of The Touching Hearts Project (TTHP), a 501c3 nonprofit organization established to help raise the percentage of lay responders who are CPR trained and provide equal access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in every community.  We accomplish this by providing free AED units to at-risk communities and CPR training to those who can’t afford it and, most likely, need it the most.
 
Did you know that every 36 seconds in this country, a person dies from cardiovascular disease, according to the CDC? I, personally know all too well, the devastating effects of cardiac arrest.   While traveling with my family, my uncle choked on a hot dog, which lead to him going into cardiac arrest and needing CPR and defibrillation.  After five days in the hospital, he passed away.  This was the catalyst for a crusade for me to learn CPR and then teach as many people as possible so they would never have to feel the feeling of helplessness that overcame me during that ordeal. 
 
From this experience, I started the TFC Lifesavers CPR Institute in 2015, whom to date has trained over 10,000 individuals, schools and businesses in CPR and First Aid.  Realizing that there is disparity in these services to individuals in low-income communities, I founded The Touching Hearts Project to address this need.
 
I am writing this letter to ask for your assistance in providing AEDs and training people in CPR and AED who live in at-risk communities.  The average AED costs $2,500 and CPR training is approximately $100 per person.  If you would consider donating to The Touching Hearts Project, you can help save lives by providing valuable tools and knowledge to those who are most at-risk, but can’t afford to take a class or purchase an AED.
 
To put the urgency of this issue into perspective, in the time it took you to read this email, four people have died of cardiovascular disease! Our initial goal is to raise $75,000 to purchase 10 AED machines and train 500 people in the community.  You can help by contributing $100, $500, $5,000, or whatever amount you would like. I’d like to thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity and for assisting in the mission of assuring equal access to lifesaving measures!