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News from the President
January 2007
Dear Friend of CSM,
I’m appreciating you more than ever.
Now I know that it’s only polite for folks like me to let you know that I appreciate your help, and I do. I’m especially appreciating you these days because it looks like CSM is heading into a challenging year.
When I say “challenging,” I am happy to say that God continues to bless our work. We had nearly 8,700 people serve with us last year and we’re looking to be around that number of volunteers for 2006. Believe it or not, though, these numbers fall below what we need to reach to meet our goals, including balancing our operating budget.
It’s a little bit of “a good problem to have” as we have grown to nine full-time sites. Our capacity has grown dramatically; at the same time, we need to be able to fulfill that capacity to support our full-time presence in each of our cities, which is a core ministry value for us.
What is causing the numbers challenge? Primarily a legitimate issue—the devastation wreaked in the Gulf by Hurricane Katrina. Naturally, many serving groups that would normally serve with someone like CSM are diverting to Louisiana and Mississippi to assist with the ongoing cleanup and assistance efforts. This is totally understandable and commendable; unfortunately, it does impact us to a degree.
I’ve been asked, “Why don’t you set up a site in New Orleans?” There are two primary reasons why we haven’t: First, as we firmly believe in working only where we are a full-time presence, to jump into that area with no previous experience and no ongoing relationships with people in that region would in our estimation be irresponsible. Second, our understanding is that the screaming need in the Gulf is for skilled volunteers—folks equipped for sophisticated medical, cleanup, development, and construction tasks. As the vast majority of our volunteers are youth groups with limited skills, we believe we could create as many problems as we’d attempt to solve if we would bring semi-skilled people (like me) into the area.
So how does all this relate to you? CSM has two revenue streams that keep us afloat—the fees groups pay to serve with us (which cover about 80% of our costs) and your donations. The lower the number of serving groups we work with, the more important your donations become to help us balance the books.
All of which is to say THANK YOU big-time for your friendship, prayers, and financial support! I have appreciated your generosity throughout the years… and now appreciate it more than ever. Thank you again.
Blessings,
Noel Becchetti, President
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