November 12, 2002

Dear Mr. Belluzzi:

About two and a half years ago, the Office of the Special Representative of the President and Secretary of State for Global Humanitarian Demining (now Mine Action) learned of Mark Hyman's initiatIve to encourage the students in the Landmine Awareness Club to reach beyond the school and involve the entire community in mine action. Since that time, Mark and his students assembled a town-wide coalition, established their own corporation (Global Care Unlimited), raised tens of thousands of dollars to help demine a village in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and sponsored a successful conference for students from over 20 schools in northern New Jersey. They now look toward Central America for a new challenge.

I want to thank you personally for your willingness to allow Mark to be part of the Department of State team whose mission it is to promote mine awareness around the country. It is teachers such as Mark, who in challenging their students to go far beyond the textbook and curriculum, help them fully to understand the human condition. We were especially pleased that you gave Mark the opportunity to travel to Seattle in October to be part of the Rotary International - Department of State conference on the landmine challenge. This was not the first time you have supported our efforts by letting us "borrow" Mark.

We hope that by including Mark in our work, we are also helping him to continue his own mission - one that simultaneously complements and exceeds his language arts responsibilities and classroom duties. This most energetic teacher and mentor represents the best in American education. He brings great credit to the Tenafly, New Jersey school system. We feel fortunate to have been able to work with him and look forward to continuing that relationship. Everyone on the State Department's Mine Action team has marveled at the work Mark has done, and noted their own good fortune in knowing and working with him the importance of education, motivated teachers and eager students in the shaping of our nation's future. In Tenafly, you have one of the best combinations we have seen and I congratulate you for encouraging your staff and student. to learn lessons that only the "real world" teaches.

Sincerely,

Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr.
Special Representative of the
President and the Secretary of State
for Mine Action