Page 9 - FoC 2024 Summer Newsletter_Neat

FoC Development Director

Todd Mickelson

“I thought you retired” is a common refrain I’ve heard over the past 6
months. While I have not retired, we were very successful in finding and
hiring my replacement as Executive Director. Mike Smith with his wife,
Katie, have enthusiastically and successfully joined our Mission. It was
our plan to hire a new E.D. so I could step back into development work
to share our story and secure more resources to transform lives.
We have had a very successful transition beyond the parish boundaries
of our founders, adding community development to our legacy of
transforming individual lives. Mission visitors, long-time donors, new
donors, clergy, FoC Board Members past and present, staff and leaders in
Peru are all inspired by our community development model and results
in Cambio Puente. This has only been possible with the support and
confidence of our donors in both general funds for our operations and designated funds for projects.

The donations to Friends of Chimbote that do not have a designated use, which we call “general funds”, are used for our day-
to-day operations. Most importantly, these funds are used to pay the salaries of our eighty-two ACAF Staff members who
serve the poor every day. Our staff includes an attorney, engineer, architect, carpenters, electricians, social workers, health
professionals, accountants, human resource specialists, educators, logisticians, marketers and many key support staff. They
operate and manage our programs in education, housing, counseling, legal services, medical, health, social services, soup
kitchens, government program coordination, training, logistics, container, emergency services and mission visitors. We are
relieving suffering and transforming the lives of thousands of our brothers and sisters we have shared with you like Catalina,
Domitila, Florcita and Olga with our dedicated, professional team!

One of the keys to our successful transition to community development is the expanded and diverse training, education,
experience and professionalism of our staff. When I started over 11 years ago, 25% of the ACAF Staff had University or Technical
degrees. Currently, 51% of ACAF staff are degreed! To continue and expand our exemplary work, we need to add professional
staff and offer a more competitive wage to keep our current leaders. We are so grateful for our dedicated and generous donors
who make this possible, with a special shout out to our monthly donors who are so important to balancing our cashflow.

We have been so pleased to share with you all the transformational projects in community development we have completed in
the past few years with designated donations: house building, furniture making, soup kitchens, learning center, daycare, social
worker offices, parish renovations, mission visit accommodations, water projects, parks and vehicles. Designated donations
have more than doubled over the past few years from individuals, mission
visit groups, parishes and service clubs like Rotary. These projects are
executed by our staff with the participation of visitors, all above and beyond
our annual budgeted programs and services funded by the general fund.

It continues to be an honor, blessing, privilege and wonderful challenge to
work for you and with you to change lives. With our new, replicable model of
community development, outstanding staffs, dedicated Board members and
generous, motivated donors, it’s time to also focus on a viable, bright future.
In this issue, we share with you ways you can help us change lives far into
the future with estate gifts, endowment funds and a reserve fund to weather
storms like the pandemic.
In Service & Gratitude,

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