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2009
was a year of challenges for Corazón. But as this year’s annual report
shows elsewhere, through both your financial help and through the hours of
service you provided on both sides of the border, Corazón was still able to
accomplish a great deal. We gratefully thank you for all you have done to
make these accomplishments possible.
Our highlights in 2009 are listed in the section on 2009 program success, so I won’t try and list them again here. The numbers of construction projects are certainly down significantly from two years ago. This is a trend we are hoping will reverse as the economy recovers, the swine flu fears recede, and the over reaction to news reports that paint the border area as awash in uncontrolled violence retreat to a more reasonable assessment of the situation. No volunteers or staff working in Mexico on Corazón activities, or travelling to and from that work, were subjected to any violence. Fortunately, neither were any of our Corazón participants or their communities. Although we continue to closely work with local authorities to assess the situation, we remain confident that working with Corazón in our Mexican communities is a safe thing to do. We thank those who have carefully studied the situation, come to the same conclusion, and continued working with us.
Despite the downturn in construction projects, we’ve been able to maintain most of the rest of our program areas at acceptable levels through judicious cost control and increased unrestricted and scholarship financial support. Thank you for your generosity. We hope to do more this year with your help.
We look forward to continuing our relationship with you in 2010. Although we have made great improvements in the lives of the people in the communities where we work, and in the lives of those, like you, who share in the Corazón Experience, there is still much to be done. We look forward to seeing you at our Santa Ana office or in Mexico for one or more of our program activities. We hope that you’ll bring along some of your friends so they can share in the experience.
Thanks for your continued support.
Tom
Tom McMillen – Corazón President