New year, new energy, new opportunities
Keri Sutter
Executive Director
It’s a new year (you’ve noticed, yes?). And around Surgite there’s a surge of new energy. We have some new dancers – Megan Bye, Caitlein Bye-McCleskey, Linn Furnish, Martha Hughes, and Sue Spaven. We have a new volunteer working in the office – Alyssa Keene. They are all wonderful!
And we have some new opportunities.
We are visiting old friends, of course. We began 2008 at Westwind House, an assisted living facility. We have presented 14 concerts there since 2001! On February 6, we will be at Cross of Hope Lutheran Church for Ash Wednesday services. We have participated in Ash Wednesday services at Cross of Hope Lutheran Church for 9 of the last 10 years!
But we are also serving new clients: Mission Arch Care Center in Roswell, NM; Prestige at Green Valley in Green Valley, AZ; and Evergreen Mesa Christian Health Center in Mesa, AZ. And last week I received an invitation to dance for the dedication of the new chapel at Lovelace Medical Center, Downtown (Albuquerque), and invitation I was delighted to accept.
A new year, new energy, and new opportunities.
However, some things don’t change. I spoke with an activity director for a long-term care facility last week. Her budget is ten cents per resident per day. Ten cents. Another director with whom I spoke receives $250.00 per month (sounds like more than ten cents per resident per day. It’s actually less.) These people have to be enormously creative with their resources. And it’s not just the activity directors. Preschool directors and church administrators also face mounting costs for just about everything. They are constantly cutting back here and tightening up there.
Who loses?
Everybody. The students. The parishioners. The residents. When an organization cannot afford to hire someone to lead a special workshop or give a presentation, those people lose an opportunity to grow in new and exciting ways. If God’s will for us is that we become whole and complete people made in God’s image, we must have opportunities to grow and to challenge ourselves. Those opportunities often cost money.
In the last newsletter, I told you about a man who could not speak, but sang along during one of my concerts. For a few moments (or maybe longer), he became a more whole and complete person, the person God created him to be. Why? Because somebody was willing to create the opportunity for him to grow.
Since Jan. 1, 2007, we have granted 47 grants or scholarships totaling $942.50. That’s 47 opportunities for people to grow and learn. 47 opportunities that happened because somebody was willing to make a donation to Surgite. Somebody was willing to open the door for someone to grow. Will you be next? Will you make a donation to Surgite? Will you give new energy, and create a new opportunity for someone?
New year, new energy, new opportunities. Help make it possible!
Keri
January, 2008