November 13, 2014

Sorry for the belated message this week.  I was waylaid by a wicked case of food poisoning Sunday and Monday…and still feeling pretty rotten at our meeting on Tuesday.

As you may remember, this year’s budget called for us to have an average census of seven paid maternity slots and up to two unpaid clients.  This represented bit more than a 25% increase in budgeted revenue over last year.  So far, we’ve beaten budget this fiscal year, and our charity slots have been consistently full.  This week we elected to take a third charity admission, a 15 year old client at immediate risk who had nowhere else to turn. We had school, family, and a colleague agency lobbying us on this young lady’s behalf (more evidence that our reputation is growing).  Given our mission, increased capacity, the unique needs of this client, and our aggressive approach to seeking additional funding to support Maternity, it was an easy call to make—–but it’s a call made possible by the generous support and partnership of the United Way.  It is because of their flexible funding approach and their support of Good Shepherd throughout the restructuring of our residential array that allows us to serve young women we’d never been able to serve previously—young women who’d otherwise be homeless and at risk.  This is one of many reasons that our partnership with the United Way is helping us to make a difference in our community every day.

Michael