At right is The Wellspring's 2010 Annual Report. The conclusion of 2010 also closes The Wellspring’s 8th decade of services to this area. This year’s annual report not only highlights the events, activities and accomplishments of 2010, but also draws attention on pages 4 and 5 to our remarkable 80 year history which we will celebrate throughout 2011. We have truly been a constant in changing times for so many children and families throughout our long history. Not only have we remained a constant and stable force in Northeast Louisiana, but we have also been able in these turbulent times to manage the change that continues to come to us all at a faster pace than ever before.
Once again I am pleased to report to you that while we continue to face challenges in these turbulent times, our opportunities have far outweighed those challenges. We have had great success this past year in carrying out our mission of strengthening and valuing the family. As you will note in this 2010 Annual Report, our research based programs described on pages 12-21 continue to yield real outcomes that meet and exceed national benchmarks. While we can produce a great number of statistical facts and figures to demonstrate these positive outcomes, it’s what our clients say about our work that really counts. I call your attention to a very few selected remarks from our clients on pages 6 and 7 of this report.
Our nation, our state and our community have not seen social and economic times like these. As a nation, we currently have the highest number of people ever in poverty — 46 million. We have a group of “new” poor persons — persons who never thought they would need social services. The homeless population doubled between 2007 and 2009 in our state, and the numbers continue to add up. The status of our kids is very much like those we saw during Katrina – they are standing on the roof tops waving for help. The very core of our families is threatened. No one is going to save them but us. As Geoffrey Canada of the famous Harlem Project says, “Superman is not coming.” It’s up to us as “social safe keepers” if you will, to provide the safety net for so many of these families and to work toward preventing further harm and to help individuals and families to build support systems. If we don’t save them, it won’t get done.
One of our greatest challenges remains the indifference we still see regarding the plight of so many children and families who find themselves in ever growing poverty. We will continue to not only provide critical services for our community, but also to storm the barricades of indifference as Peter Goldberg, President & CEO of the Alliance for Children and Families, challenged us at the 2010 annual conference of the Alliance. There is much continued angst as well as change and uncertainty in the air, but we are committed to remaining a high performing organization by continuing to be alert to these uncertainties. We know that we will be expected to do not only more with less, but BETTER with LESS. We can and will do that with our greatest resources, our caring community partners, committed Board of Directors and a highly trained and professional staff.
We will remain constant in the face of change.