Dear Friends,

We are writing to let you know about an important development regarding the Annual Banquet, which was scheduled for April 15.

An interesting thing happened as we were preparing for the banquet. It became clear to us that sponsors and donors were much more interested in contributing to Associates than attending a banquet downtown on a Tuesday night. Those sponsors and donors have a keen interest in the success of our mission and would rather see contributed funds used exclusively for the mission rather than a banquet.

In the end, the decision was whether we have a dinner for sponsors and donors who already enthusiastically support what we do and want to see more of it done, or we listen and pivot to grow awareness. We’ve listened and pivoted.

So we are not going to have a banquet. We instead will use 100% of our contributed funds directly for providing services and for a new program we want to launch in September in schools. That program will involve holding evening mental health awareness meetings at schools and inviting parents, students, and teachers to meet with Associates. The fastest growing group of clients we serve is youth – no close seconds. We will provide an overview to attendees not only about Associates, but about the challenges facing youth (and parents and teachers) and how we can help. The toughest decision our clients face is knowing when it is time to call us. We want to concentrate on that moment of decision, inform the process, and open our door to that need.

We believe that taking our message out into the community will increase awareness of our services at the time when our youth, parents and teachers need it most — at the start of a new school year. We have actually shared our thoughts with a number of our sponsors and major donors, and they have enthusiastically endorsed this new mission and our using their banquet sponsorship dollars for this purpose.

We hope you, too, will continue to support us with your gifts and prayers as we undertake this new outreach. Of course, funds raised from the banquet have also supported our Client Assistance Fund, which allows Associates to never turn away anyone who seeks our help due to inability to pay. We continue to need your support for that important mission.

We know this is a fast developing pivot, but we believe it is the right thing to do for the right reasons. Thanks for your continued support now and always. You are making a difference in the lives of so many people who are seeking Associates’ help.