Numbers!!!

     My Financial Manager is gone for two weeks.  On the one hand, the office is lonelier and I have much more to do.  On the other hand...I am really a numbers geek and get an unhealthy amount of joy from poring through numbers and making sense out of them.  I have been forced to spend a lot of time on bank account reconciliations and accounts payable lists and demographic comparison analysis.  I won't bore you with all the reports, but the short story that the numbers tell is this: Joel's Place is doing really well and Operation OnRamp has been a huge success so far and we are only a month in.

     Operation OnRamp is the name for our free riding program.  Conoco Phillips sponsored our first month and the Fred Meyer Foundation is sponsoring the next three.  When I wrote the grant proposals, I said that we were hoping to increase our attendance and participation by 25%.  It was ambitious, but I thought that being able to offer our facility for free would bring in some new people and make our regulars eager to come back, even during the summer.  Here's how it is going so far.

• The number of visitors increased 24% over last May
• The number of meals served increased by 48% over last May
• The number of Skate Park ride sessions increased...254% over last May

The building has been hopping so far.  Usually the summer sees a dramatic slow down, but we are scrambling to keep up with all the new kids.  It is an exceptional problem to have.  I tell people regularly that Joel's Place is better when there are kids here.  So much better.  It feels like we are being good stewards of the resources entrusted to us when we can focus them on teenagers being difficult.  Which they do.  Often.

     The other fun piece of numbers has been around money.  Usually June is our bleakest time of the year.  Staff are not getting paid, bills are piling up and everyone is praying for some sort of miracle to tide us over until the fall.

     The forecast looks like we will end June with both our bills and our staff paid and some money in the bank to carry us through the summer.  Anyone who has worked or volunteered at Joel's Place knows what a monumental statement that is.

     Please do not take this as an invitation to stop giving.  Rather, know that your gifts are going towards building up the program, not just keeping us from sinking.  We will see what the exact numbers are when we finish August, but the staff and I are already dreaming about possibilities for this coming school year.  What could we do?  How could our impact grow?  What do our kids need and how could we help provide that?  I don't want to get ahead of ourselves...but it is an exciting time.

     Thank you for your generosity, your support and your encouragement.  I am deeply grateful for your partnership.

     Thank you, Arlys, for taking some time off so I could play with our numbers...please come back soon!