Greetings members, supporters and friends of the Twin Cities Men’s Center:
Another change of season is rapidly approaching. The crisp morning air is a reminder of things to come.
We have experienced a change this year at the Men’s Center. Our donations have declined after having many stable years. It is easy to analyze this change and associate it with the decline in our national economy and increasing unemployment, but that does not solve the problem. At our present rate of donations, we will not be able to cover our very reasonable rent.
The main area of decline in our donations is at the support groups. We presently have 10 weekly support groups and a couple more than meet once a month. The number of participants who are attending these support groups has essentially remained the same over the past few years, including the current year. The donations declined this year by about 30 to 40%. We are about two thousand dollars short of where we were in support group donations compared with last year.
Now this doesn’t seem like much. But it has been my experience that the Men’s Center is very efficient and offers a lot of service on an extremely lean budget. We are asking support group participants to consider making a donation of at least $3, if possible. We do not want to dissuade participants from attending if they are unable to donate this amount due to personal finances. The simple math is that we can make rent if we average $3 per support group participant.
My hope is that this letter finds each of you well. I will see you at the Men’s Center.
Bobby Schauerhamer,
Board Chair
