Message from Sister Maria Fest

Dear Friends,
We recently completed the Christmas Season—a joyous time of gift giving and receiving. The local community, including individuals, families, businesses, organizations, parishes and schools, has historically been very generous to us each Christmas season, and this past year was no exception. Providence Connections was blessed once again with many gifts—of books, toys, clothing, funds, and much more—which were distributed during our Gifts of Providence program to almost 100 local families who are enrolled at Providence Family Support Center.
The thought of children waking up on Christmas morning without gifts under the tree is a bleak one. It may be that people today, in some small way, want to make up for the dire circumstances surrounding the birth of the Christ Child on that first Christmas over 2,000 years ago. Whatever the reason for your generosity, we, and the
families we serve, are extremely grateful.

Recently, charities everywhere have experienced extraordinary growth in charitable giving. Giving USA, the annual report on philanthropy, estimates that Americans gave contributions in excess of $260 billion for 2005, a growth of 6.1 % over the previous year. While half of the increase in total giving is attributable to disaster response, the other half reflects donors’ commitments to other causes that matter to them.

Fortunately, for charitable organizations such as Providence Connections, people respond not only to extraordinary causes, such as natural disasters and toys for children at Christmas, but also to ordinary causes, such as support for fragile families, shelter for homeless people and food for the hungry. And equally fortunate for us, people respond in all seasons, not just at Christmas.

As our Financial Highlights indicate (see pg. 3), income from private foundations, government programs, individual donors, businesses, corporations and special events is just as important as client contributions and tuition. Financial gifts, as well as volunteer services and in-kind gifts, make the difference in our ability to meet the needs of the people we serve.

As we begin a new year, we are thankful for your support over the past year. Whether you contribute to us financially, volunteer your services, donate items on our wish list, support our Gifts of Providence program, or keep us in your prayers, we consider you “partners in Providence” in making God’s love and care more visible to the people we serve. We wish all of you a happy, peaceful and healthy new year.

Sister Maria Fest, CDP
Executive Director