(Note: as of May 1, 2008, LUM's Executive Director is Joe Micon.)

Mary Anderson, Interim Executive Director (till May 1, 2008)

Behind the Numbers

Annual Reports are strange animals. We need to get this information to you to tell you of our programs, our growth, and our successes. But by the time we put all this together in the cold days of January, last summer’s LUM Camp is a distant memory, we are into a new tax season, and the master data base is filling up with new numbers. It’s hard for me to look backwards; I’m a person who is already looking forward to spring even while it’s still snowing.

But the numbers in this annual report tell an important story. They show how well-used this facility is: advocate clients in the morning, children in the afternoon, shelter guests at night. They show how dedicated the staff is: multiple responsibilities, extra hours, true compassion and caring. The numbers show how close to “maxed-out” our programs are: if the advocate program operated at full capacity every day, we could theoretically fill 3,120 slots; we saw 2,841. Full capacity for the ASP is based on the number of seats available in our vans. Full capacity for the tax program depends on the number of desks and laptops available.

Most importantly, the numbers in this report are real people. The CEF spending numbers include “Sharon,” her husband and four children; her husband has been unable to work and his disability application has been pending for over a year, her work hours have been cut, and the family needed help with utilities and medications. The Food Pantry numbers are mothers and fathers who cannot put enough food on the table to satisfy their children’s hunger. The number of tax returns filed represent working families who can now afford more stable housing, return to school, purchase reliable transportation for work, or pay off huge winter utility bills.

So please take the time to read this report carefully. It is a good snapshot of where we have been in the past year.

But please join me, as well, in looking forward to the new year. This will be a year of excitement and change at LUM. Most of you are aware of the staffing changes that will occur this spring. Joe Micon will return to full-time duties as Executive Director in May, and I will continue my responsibilities with the Advocate program and take on some additional duties related to our program-expansion campaign. While I have greatly enjoyed the four years as “interim director,” I’m looking forward to more time working directly with clients and working for the future of LUM. I won’t miss budgets, or insurance issues, or building concerns—and I will still have the many great connections with this organization, our volunteers, donors, and clients. The best of all worlds!

2008 will see LUM continuing to develop and grow programs that strengthen families and children, and move adults into greater self-sufficiency. We will move from preparing taxes to preparing for camp. From camp, it will be the rapid rush of Hunger Hike, Community Thanksgiving and Jubilee Christmas. RESPECT, After School, the Advocate Program and the Emergency Homeless Shelter will continue to address the needs of each special population. The names, faces and needs of the clients may change, but LUM’s responses to those needs will be consistent.

--Mary Anderson, Interim Executive Director

The above message is from the 2007 LUM Annual Report, published in January 2008.