Dear Friend of the Mission,
I sincerely hope that you will be able to attend our annual banquet on Saturday, October 23rd, 6:45 p.m. at Williamson Restaurant in Horsham, PA. Additional details about our banquet will be mailed out in about three weeks. In the meantime, please set aside the date. Our banquet is always a great time of celebration and inspiration as we see and hear firsthand the remarkable life-changing testimonies of our men. Come on out and see how your gifts have made an “amazing grace” difference in the lives of broken and hurting homeless men who “once were lost, but now are found.”
As many of you know, our fiscal year will soon be ending on September 30, 2010. Throughout this year, we have mentioned in our newsletters that the recession has finally caught up with us. Financially, this has been a tough year – the toughest year since 1989 when I first came to the Mission. In addition to the challenges of the recession, we also experienced 4 snowstorms this year that devastated our thrift store sales for several weeks. And on top of all this, our current fiscal year, October 1, 2009 – September 30, 2010, is the first full year since we reopened after the fire that we operated at our full 50-bed capacity with a full staff.
With reduced income and increased expenses, it looks like we will end our fiscal year with an $80,000 deficit. Operating at a deficit is new and unusual for us – for most of the 21 years I have served at the Mission, we operated in the black.
As you well know, an operating deficit is never a good thing. It hurts us now, but it will also hurt us later because foundations and other funders often hesitate to fund an organization that finished the year with a deficit.
If you are able to send an extra generous gift above and beyond what you normally give by September 30, 2010, I would be grateful beyond words. We have cut costs, increased our food and other gift-in-kind donations, delayed purchases (for example, we haven’t yet but would like to buy a bike rack for our men so they can have a bike and keep it safely locked up), worked hard to increase our thrift store sales, sadly laid off a much-loved part-time staff member, shopped around for better prices on goods and services, reduced staff benefits, secured additional foundation grants, and delayed as long as possible replacing departing staff members.
But when all is said and done, we still need at least $80,000 by September 30th to eliminate most if not all of our operating expense deficit. Thanks for your help. Any gift you give to reduce our deficit is much appreciated!
Your friend and co-worker,
Robert A. Emberger,
D.Min.Executive Director
P.S. We have a great staff who works at the Mission for very modest wages. I remember years ago a reporter from the Daily News was astounded that our staff would work so hard for so little. We have already informed our staff that salary increases for our new fiscal year beginning October 1, 2010 won’t be forthcoming if we end our fiscal year with a significant deficit. In addition to working hard, all of our staff members do extras for the Mission and our men which includes for many of them supporting our ministry financially. Reducing and even eliminating our deficit by September 30th will bless and benefit both the homeless men who live at the Mission and our dedicated, caring staff who work hard every day to give our men a hand-up and not just a hand-out.