Nicole Sniff

“We are a big family. We have six kids, and five of our six attend Calvary Christian Academy in Normal.”

“When we were in public school, we tried to get the support my kids needed in the form of IEPs – individualized education plans – and the teachers would not allow it.”

“Two of my children face learning disabilities. One has autism and Drake – our third oldest – had some behavioral challenges to which the teacher’s response was that we needed to medicate him for ADHD.”

“First of all, teachers are not legally allowed to diagnose children.”

“Second, his behaviors stemmed from anxiety and stress. We adopted Drake at 5 years old, so he came to us with learned behaviors and responses which weren’t always positive, and the teacher’s response was to medicate him.”

“One parent-teacher conference in third grade, she told me that if we didn’t get his behavior under control, he would be destined to a life of drugs and alcohol anyway.”

“There wasn’t a single parent-teacher conference I didn’t leave from that school in tears because of how they treated and responded to my son.”

“We put him in Calvary Christian school for fourth grade. And the very first parent-teacher conference we went to, the teacher looked at me and she said, ‘He has so much potential. I see it. I believe in it. And we’re going to get him the resources that he needs.’”

“In that moment, I knew that Calvary was exactly where he’s supposed to be.”

“Calvary’s reading specialist helped diagnosed both of my middle sons with learning disabilities, and we’re getting them the resources they need. And it has been such a gift to be there.”

“No one has mentioned medication and Drake has never had a behavior problem since we put him in Calvary. And without the Tax Credit Scholarship that wouldn’t have been possible.”

“It’s just been incredible.”

“My husband’s a pastor and I’m a stay-at-home mom. After witnessing how good Calvary was for our son, we decided that we would do whatever it took, use all of our extra income to pay for our children to be able to attend Calvary.”

“It’s tight, but the scholarships help.”

“One year, it just didn’t look like we were going to be able to send the kids. We were about a month and a half into the year, juggling payment plans or pulling them out. We found out our family received scholarships covering all the rest of our kids’ tuition, whatever we owed for the rest of the school year after what we already paid.”

“We were just absolutely blown away [at the generosity].

“Last year, we found ourselves in a similar situation. We just had needed a little bit extra, and we found out that our oldest got a certain amount toward his bill and it was almost the exact amount that we needed to cover tuition.”

“This year, we found out that he got the scholarship, then we didn’t receive it because there was no money in the fund. So now we have to figure out how to come up with $1,200 more in the middle of a pandemic, but the school has been invaluable in educating our children.”

“They stayed open five days a week, and so now, you know, we’re just trying to scrounge together what we can to do it.”

“We’ll be OK, but you don’t want to see another family out there that wants the best education for their children but can’t provide it because they can’t afford tuition, or were promised a scholarship and forced to withdraw because the funds don’t come through.”

“When you receive this miracle blessing, you feel like you can also be extra generous. You can share with people, ‘Hey, come to Calvary. It’ll change your kids’ lives, and it’ll be an awesome experience. And you know what? There are scholarships available.’”

“We’re incredibly thankful for the donors to these programs. Because of them we’re able to provide the quality education our children deserve.”

“Drake is 15 now and in his freshman year of high school. He is excelling in school despite his learning disabilities. The Tax Credit Scholarship made that possible.”

Nicole Sniff
Mother
Normal, Illinois