Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Charlotte community comes together at Thanksgiving

We are thrilled to announce that the Charlotte community has pulled together to provide more than enough to feed 400 families in our community at Thanksgiving. We truly appreciate all you did to make this happen!

If you are still willing to donate, we would love for you to continue donating to our missions and education program in honor of Thanksgiving. This program provides for the educational needs of many, including afterschool tutoring and gang, drug, and alcohol education.

On a business note, we have literally been receiving donations faster than I can enter them in, so please give me 2 or 3 weeks to send out gift recognition letters. Know that we appreciate each one of your gifts so much, and want to give each one of you the special attention you deserve when thanking you for your endeavors!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Bethlehem Center Board Member takes top award with KPMG




Bethlehem Center board member Jim Geisel recently took home KPMG's Chairman's Award. The award is "the highest honor KPMG bestows on partners and employees who perform outstanding volunteer and ommunity service throughout the year," according to KPMG.



Only 26 individuals are selected for this award. These individuals are selected based on their actions holding out KPMG's "commitment to communities." As part of this award, KPMG donated $1000 to Bethlehem Center in Jim's honor.



Geisel joined the Bethlehem Center board of directors in early 2009.


Pictured below working in Ghana:


Thursday, November 12, 2009

How every gift counts

Dear friends and readers,

I'm sitting here at 4 o'clock after a day that consisted entirely of entering gifts into the database. Something that I loathe and love all at once. Loathe, because it's about the most boring thing ever. Love, because it means that you all as a community have been generous to the Bethlehem Center and furthering our work here.

About 10 minutes ago, I was handed 3 checks that I feel are an amazing demonstration of how each gift given to the Bethlehem Center counts for so much.

One check was for $130,000, one for $1,000 and one for $20.

Each gift was designated for a different area, each gift making an equal impact on the areas they were designated to.

The $130,000 will be put towards a down payment on our new ministry center on N. Sharon Amity. We are hoping to open this as a fully functioning ministry center for 50 kids next fall. In addition to our afterschool programs, we are hoping to offer Bible classes and Christian summer camps for the kids.

The $1000 will go towards our general fund. This fund is important because it supports the administrative expenses and overhead that allow us to do what we do. Without the lights turned on or maintenance to the buildings done, we wouldn't be able to operate efficiently.

The $20 will go towards funding the turkeys that we distribute to the families in the area. We will be able to purchase each of those for around $5, so the $20 gift will help 4 families in need.

One of the reasons I (Amy) came to work here is the simple fact that every gift--and I mean every gift--makes a difference and has a purpose here. Your gifts are felt.

Our new online donation tool through justgive.org has a feature that I encourage you all to utilize. You can now give gifts monthly. Did you know that just a $50 gift every month would put you in our top 10 individual (non-corporate) donors? Please help us continue our mission of providing educational opportunities to our children in the community.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Volunteer Spotlight-Premier


Thank you to Premier for coming out on November 2nd. Volunteers sealed the wood on the playgrounds to bring them up to code and cleaned out our warehouse to consolidate two warehouses and save money on rent.