Breakfast with the Relatives John Wickham

Good morning. My name is John Wickham, and I have the pleasure and honor of serving as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Relatives. So today you heard a remarkable story. Sharon and Justin, thank you so much for sharing your story. It's just incredible, and we're proud of you and excited for you. Thank you. Yeah, they were fortunate enough to find out about the relatives. But what about all those kids in our community that don't know about the relatives? Where do they turn? How can we reach out to the hundreds of children in our community who run away from home every year and the countless others who are considering running away? How do we reach all those kids who are afraid at home? But don't know where to go? How do we serve the nearly 5,000 kids in the CMS system that have no place to call home? How do we support our young adults and keep them off the street so they can have the resources to be successful? These are very tough questions about some of our very real and difficult challenges. Thank you. And for each individual, what does it mean to be homeless, to feel unsafe, to not know where to turn for help? These questions are, for most of us, incredibly difficult to process and to comprehend. And we're adults. Remember, these are children and youth that are trying to figure this out. What can we do to help? Well, we have to work even harder. There's so much to do to reach the youth who are struggling and make sure they learn about the amazing work that's being done by the relatives. We have to be committed year in, year out, giving the children and young adults support that they can count on. And simply, we have to give. And give generously. I think one of Dr. Seuss's greatest characters, the Lorax, may have said it best. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. I know you care. On a cold, rainy, early morning meeting, you're here, and that means you care. Thank you. I also want you to know that the Board of Directors cares. We're fortunate to have a talented, energetic, and engaged board that has worked incredibly hard on behalf of the relatives. In addition to their time and their prior financial commitments to the relatives, I'm pleased to announce that the board is making a $50,000 leadership gift to kick off this year's breakfast campaign. What a fantastic start. To the morning. But the need is large, the time is now, and your support is greatly needed. I'd like to take this time and ask the table captains to please distribute the pledge forms. Okay, so starting at the top of the card, I'd like you to please consider joining the Circle of Giving Society by giving a multi-year pledge. As we've heard, sustainability and commitment are critical to the long-term success of our programs. And multi-year pledges obviously play a vital role in achieving those outcomes. We have 3 categories of multi-year giving: Circle of Hope, Circle of Dreams, and Circle of Life. The Circle of Hope is a pledge for $1,000 per year for 5 years. So for about $83 a month, you provide the gift of hope for the children of the relatives by providing support for programs such as our parenting classes, which teach parents key skills to help them better support their children. If you can do that, please check the first box. The Circle of Dreams is our next giving level and is a commitment of $5,000 a year for 5 years. A gift at this level allows the relatives to invest in keeping kids and families Together long-term by offering support programs such as our aftercare program. So if you would consider a gift at this level, please check this box. Excuse me. The Circle of Life is our next giving level and is a commitment of $10,000 a year for 5 years. A gift at this level allows the relatives to open a door of hope and opportunity to the kids who age out of foster care each day through the OnRamp program. The OnRamp provides support to young people aging out who otherwise have no place to go except jail, homeless shelters, and hospitals to access services. If you would consider a gift at this level, please check this box. If you're joining me today as a member of our Multi-Year Giving Society, our collective thanks for your generous support. If you are already a member of our multi-year giving societies, we truly appreciate your commitment to the Relatives. We would also appreciate any additional consideration or additional years to your already generous commitment. If you're willing to make that additional gift, please do so. We know and respect that you may prefer to give at a different level. And if so, please indicate how much you would like to give and for how many years. All participation, really all participation, is truly and greatly appreciated. Thank you for whatever level of support you can provide. And as you can see on the pledge form, we have several payment options including credit card, check, or securities. And lastly, if you have some great ideas Or you would like some information about volunteering, please check the box asking that we contact you. I'll now give you some time to finish filling out your cards, and when you're finished, please pass your envelopes back to your table captain. Thank you. Thank you. Whatever gift you have chosen to make today, whether you've become a member of our multi-year giving society, made a gift at a different level, or have ideas that you want to share with us later, we sincerely thank each and every one of you on behalf of the children and the families we serve. We appreciate that you took time out of your busy lives to be with us this morning. There's an ancient Chinese proverb that says, if you want happiness for an hour, Take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else. So in this season of Thanksgiving, how about you and we together make sure that something is going to get better? Let's help these children. Now I'll turn our program to Rick McDermott, past chair of the board of directors, for some final thoughts.