Despite the many challenges that were thrown at us by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is hard not to view the year as a great success. Over and over, you heard the word ‘pivot’ used to describe how we were adapting to the changing landscape brought on by COVID-19 and finding ways to engage our participants despite the obstacles. 

The various charts you see really help to illustrate all of this. I think the most telling chart is the one that focuses on the number of Casework Sessions in 2019 versus the number of Sessions in 2020. As you can see, we dramatically increased the number of sessions in 2020 over 2019  

And then there are our impressive finance results, thanks to all you generous individual donors!  It’s no secret that 2021 was a challenging financial year given a cancelled live Next Step Breakfast (that we transformed into a pre-recorded appeal in “Samaritan Studios” on, you guessed it, Hamilton Street, NW DC – and that our usual Empower our Neighbors in Need Campaign was truncated from the usual 6 months, to 3 months – and finally, not to forget the virtual Gala in Nov. 2020!   

But “the memo” you may have missed, is that we did exceptionally well – making our budget of $1.3 million with room to spare, thanks to your great generosity – not just at year’s end, but throughout 2020. To be specific, though we did not make the pre-pandemic target we set for individual giving (when we made the budget in Dec. 2019) 2020’s individual giving total exceeded 2019’s individual giving total – and the virtual Gala we held in Nov. 2020, had the highest net income of any Gala we have had!  That, along with some special pandemic funding and resources, allowed us to make our budget and meet the participant need. So, YOU made that difference!