Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

12/14/2016

Executive Director Marion Smith

c/o Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

#900

300 New Jersey Avenue, NW 

Washington, D.C.  20001

Dear Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and Executive Director Smith,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan with a strong interest in learning history, world culture, and public policy.  In these subjects, I like to learn the need to make Civil Rights to reduce discrimination to help protect people who are different from being discriminated, the need for human rights to help protect people’s rights from being oppressed by oppressive countries, need for immigration reform to help immigrants including illegal immigrants and refugees from being oppressed, and many others.  The main reason, I’m writing this organization a letter is to explain how I find this organization to be very inspiring to me and give a small donation to help fund this organization to help your goal to have a museum to help honor the victims who suffer from Communism including teach people about the need for human rights.

Executive Director Smith, I have Autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased.  Another thing that I struggle with a disability is losing friends, sometimes I get kicked out from social groups, have trouble finding friends, and people use bigotry or prejudice on me based on a disability. History is one of my favorite subjects because it motivates me to work hard on my disability, learn not to repeat the same mistakes in the past, learn the need to advance on Civil Rights to reduce discrimination, need for diversity to make society better, protect women’s rights from being oppressed, the need for emphasizing human rights, and immigration reform. I enjoy looking at the website of Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation because it does a great job explaining the need to end oppression including communism to help educate people about the need for human rights, the video of testimonials of witnesses who explain their stories about struggles with communism countries, and learn history of how people who work hard to advocate for democracy or human rights when they are victims of communism.  This organization is a true inspiration to me to work hard on my disability including work hard when I face different obstacles, continue my interest in learning history, and help me learn more about the need to honor victims of communism.  

Executive Director Smith, I wanted to say that I’m proud on how you and Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation are working hard to advocate for human rights and help educate many people like me to learn more history including the need to end oppression. On the website, I was reading about your goal to build a museum to help honor victims of communism including explain the history to help people learn about the need to have democracy and I agree with you. I strongly believe that in history and currently that it is important to help educate people about the need to have human rights, have immigration reform, and reduce oppression.  I’m including a $5 donation to help fund the museum project.  I hope that my donation can help you and this organization’s goal.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, inspiring me, and accepting my donation. 

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation sent me a book "The Barefoot Lawyer: A Blind Man's Flight for Justice and  Freedom in China" by Mr. Chen along with the letter

Former Governor Jim Hodges of South Carolina

1/03/2017

Governor Jim Hodges

c/o  McGuireWoods LLP

1301 Gervais Street, Suite 1050

Columbia, SC  29201

Dear Governor Hodges,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan with a strong interest in learning history including public policy.  In these subjects, I like to learn the need to make Civil Rights stronger in order to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, find ways to improve education to make learning a better place, and many others.  Governor Hodges, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work 114^th Governor of South Carolina to be very inspiring to me.

When you served as 114^th Governor of South Carolina from 1999-2003, I was very proud on how you were a strong supporter of Civil Rights. Also on Civil Rights, I liked on how you were an advocate for people with disabilities’ rights, support funding women including minorities businesses to help them compete in the economy, express the need for women to have equal pay, and support the ideas of the Equal Rights Amendment to help protect women from being discriminated based on gender even though the state legislature didn’t pass it.  On the environment, I like your approach like supporting funds for renewable energy (wind, solar, biofuel, and energy efficient products) and pushing for superfunds to help clean up rivers along with parks to make them safe for people to use.  On the Martin Luther King Jr, issue, I was very proud on how you added Martin Luther King Holiday to the state official calendars to help honor MLK’s work on Civil Rights and to help educate people about the need to continue to make Civil Rights stronger to reduce discrimination.  Another thing that I liked about your role as Governor of South Carolina is how you had the courage to remove the confederate flag from the state capitol’s dome to it’s ground to help restore confidence on people who are different and to reduce racism when other state legislatures weren’t advocates on this issue.   Your approach on education reform like providing schools with money to help fix schools to make them safe for students to learn, funding special education to help students with disabilities get educational resources that they need, and launching “First Steps to School Readiness” to have early childhood education to help them improve their reading skills along with expand comprehension are great ways to have education reform. After you lost your re-election for another term, I’m very proud on how you continue to advocate for education reform, express the need to make Civil Rights stronger, support people with disabilities’ rights, and many others.  

Governor Hodges, I have Autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects including learning new tasks, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased.   Another thing is during my educational years ranging from elementary school through Washtenaw Community College, my community college I struggled on learning different subjects including getting teased by other people about having a disability. However, in Spring 2014 I was able to get an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts in my community college. My main focus in my Associates Degree is history, government, some businesses, some science, and science.  Your commitment to be a strong supporter of Civil Rights, be an advocate for people with disabilities’ rights, and be a strong supporter of education reform really inspires me to work hard on my disability, continue to learn different subjects when I face different challenges, and many others. Even though I’m not in school anymore, I continue my interest in learning different subjects especially history with public policy by watching different documentaries with subtitles to help improve myself on vocabulary along with help me understand different topics, research along with writing letters to public officials through former public officials or celebrities to help me understand more about their work with how they inspire me, and visit historical sites or museums to help expand my learning.   Your role as 114^th Governor of South Carolina motivates me to continue my interest in learning history with public policy.   My future goal is to someday work in public policy or history to help create common sense ideas to make society better.

Governor Hodges, I strongly believe that you made great achievements in your role as Governor of South Carolina. I’m very proud on how you worked hard to make a great difference for society and had the courage to oppose the Confederate flag.  You have inspired me to work hard on my disability  and to continue my interest in learning history.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, making great achievements as Governor, and inspiring me.  I wish you well for the future and to continue to advocate for great common sense ideas.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick

47th U.S. Vice President Joe Biden

5/3/2016

Vice President Joe Biden

c/o Whitehouse

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C.  20500

Dear Vice President Biden,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan with a strong interest in studying history. The main reason I like history is to learn the need to advance on Civil Rights to help protect people who are different from being discriminated, protect the environment from pollution,  have criminal justice reform to help victims of crime get the assistance they need, and many others. The main reason I’m writing you a letter is I find your work as former U.S. Senator from Delaware and as Vice President of the United States to be very inspiring to me.

When you served as U.S. Senator from Delaware, I was very proud on how you co-sponsor with Senator Ted Kennedy, Senator Bob Dole, Senator Tom Harkin, Senator Alan K. Simpson, and Senator Richard Lugar on The American With Disabilities Act of 1990 and working with both political parties to pass the ADA of 1990 to help protect people with disabilities from being discriminated in education and public places.  I was very proud on you being Vice President of the United States serving with President Barack Obama because both of you make a great team on making America a better place. In your role as Vice President, I liked on how you worked with President Obama on expanding Civil Rights to help protect people with disabilities’ from being discriminated and advocating for people with disabilities’ rights.  To improve the economy, I liked on how you helped President Obama push for The American Recovery Act, a stimulus bill to create job-training programs to help train workers including youth to develop job skills.  During the healthcare debate in 2010, I was very proud on how you for supporting President Obama on his Affordable Care Act and working with other Congressional lawmakers to push for it to be in law to help people with pre-existing conditions including people who are under age 26 stay on their parent’s health insurance.  Another thing that I liked about you in your role as current U.S. Vice President is you continue advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, supporting victims of sexual assault with women’s rights from being weakened,  and working with President Obama to push for renewable energy to reduce co2 emissions.

Vice President Biden, I have Autism with a learning disability. Having Autism is difficult for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased. The ADA of 1990, your support for people with disabilities’ rights, and your assistance with President Obama to continue helping people with disabilities really inspires me to work hard on Autism and to get a good education from elementary school though my community college where I had accommodations like extra time on exams, have a T.A. or tutor work with me on different subjects, have educational software including a recorder to improve my comprehension along with improve on my note-taking.  Also your work on people with disabilities’ rights including President Obama’s support for people with disabilities helped me get an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts at Washtenaw Community College in Spring 2014. Government, criminal justice, some business, and some science are my main focus in my Liberal Arts degree.  Your teamwork with President Obama on the American Recovery Act helped me get into a job-training program called The B. Side of Arts at EMU college of business where I had lectures about how business works and had classes where they worked with us on developing job-skills. As the result of the American Recovery Act I developed job-skills and it helped me be prepared to work full-time.  The ACA healthcare law helped me stay on my parent’s health insurance until I turn 26 since I’m 25 years old. Without the ACA health care I would have trouble affording health insurance on my own.  Your son Beau Biden was a true inspiration to me to be interested in studying about how the criminal justice system works and his support for people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on autism.

Vice President Biden, I wanted to send my sympathies to you about losing your son Beau Biden to brain cancer. Your son truly inspired me to be interested in history, work hard on Autism, and have an interest understanding the criminal justice system.  Your work as Vice President of the United States on teaming up with President Obama on making great achievements has helped benefit me during Obama Presidency years. You have truly inspired me to continue being interested in learning history, work hard on Autism, and many others. My prayers are for you, President Obama, First Lady Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, and your family to do well. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make great achievements, and inspiring me.  I wish you well to continue your role as Vice President.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick

Ms. Rita Moreno

12/06/2016

Ms. Rita Moreno

2625 Alcatraz Ave.  #326

Berkeley, CA  94705

Dear Ms. Moreno,

My name is Matt Winick and I’m a huge fan of your acting. My favorite movie that you played in was Westside Story.  I enjoyed Westside Story because I enjoyed the plot of the musical drama movie about two gangs called the Jets and The Sharks having a war against each other while Tony, a member of the Jets fall in love with Maria, who is Bernardo’s young sisters.  I enjoyed your character Anta, Bernardo’s girl because I liked on how you made her have a sense of humor while caring for her best friend Maria.  My favorite song that you sang in The West Side Story is America because you and Mr. George Chakiris did an excellent job making Bernardo and Anita a great singing couple, made the song have some funny reasons about America, and I enjoyed the dance performance.   As a result of playing in West Side Story, I was proud on how you won the Oscars for Best Supporting Actress in 1962 and congrats on winning it because I’m proud on how you worked hard on making music including acting great in the movie. After your role in music, I enjoyed watching HBO tv series called OZ.   The plot of Oz was interesting because I liked the story about a fictional prison called Oswald State Correctional Facility (OZ) where there are different prisoners ranging from different races including different criminal background on how they deal with life in prison and how the prison staff has to deal with politics.  In Oz, I thought you did an excellent job portraying Sister Pete Marie because I liked on how you expanded her traits like willing to help prisoners reform through therapy when they face different struggles, willing to work with  McManus to find ways to improve the facilities like have treatment programs to help reduce drug addiction including find ways to protect people who are different races from hate-crime, and many others. Another thing that I really liked about Sister Pete was on how she worked hard to continue to do good when there was obstacles like disagreement with political system, when inmates would not be willing to reform, and many others.

Besides your acting career, I really like on how you are an advocate to continue to fund the arts to help make education diverse, support people with disabilities’ rights, and the need to make diversity a better place.  Ms. Moreno, I have Autism with a learning disability.  Having a disability is hard for  me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased.  Your commitment to be a strong supporter of diversity and be an advocate for people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability.  On Youtube, I really enjoyed watching you on American Film Institute where you explain about how the West Side Story became an interesting movie and I enjoyed watching an episode of CBS Talk Show West Side Story Reunion where it included you, Russ Tamblyn, and George Chakiris where you explain what it was like filming West Side Story, how they felt when it won some Oscars, and share some of your favorite memories about the dancing. 

Ms. Moreno, I strongly believe that  you are a very talented actress and as a music performer.  I’m amazed on how you worked hard to make West Side Story a great drama/musical movie.  You have inspires me to work hard on my disability and be a fan of your role as an actress.  Here is a birthday card wishing you a Happy Birthday for December 11^th and $5 as a gift to you to donate money to fund the arts. Another thing is here is a picture of me as a gift to you for inspiring me. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, doing an excellent job in acting, and inspiring me.  I wish you well for the future and to continue to make films with tv shows great to watch. Also I want to wish you a Happy Birthday.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick