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WE ARE WINNING EVERY DAY

As the community give unfolded, I was surprised by the range of emotions that came with it. A very wise woman I know told me that you never lose; you either win or learn. This sounds like something I would tell my kids, After all, every time they play in a game , take a test or compete in something, I ask them if they did their best. As long as the answer is yes, then I tell them they should be proud. It is hard to be on the other end of it despite the support of a wonderful board, community and friends. Wanting to come in first place was my goal from the moment we came in second in 2015. And I have been feeling really disappointed that we didn’t reach the goal.

But then this morning I received a text from Lily’s mom. She asked how we did and I told her I was still upset that we didn’t win. She responded, “I know, but you always win by helping those families.” And that right there is perspective. We are winning (and learning) every single day! And we are doing it because we live in a very generous and loving community who gives not just money, but time to our families. We couldn’t do it without all of you.

In case you were wondering about our goals for #GIVE16:

1.Increase number of donations : 2015 we had 391 and this year 662
2.Increase awareness: Without a doubt we increased awareness. We got our name out there in many ways. We were mentioned in the paper, increased our following on all social media outlets and hopefully will be known as the little non-profit that came in second 2 years in a row.
3.Raise $30,000: We still don’t have the final numbers but right now we are at $33,697 (before fees are removed) and I am still hoping for one or two more prizes.
4. Come in first for most donations: We didn’t reach this goal but we learned a lot from trying. And we will sit down next week and figure out exactly what we learned and how we can apply it to future situations and events.
5. Reach new donors: We had 262 new donors who had never donated to FGP before which is amazing!

We worked hard, had some fun and met most of our goals! I would like to thank all who participated and helped make this the best year yet!