“It is the apathetic person that sees the cause while the charitable person sees the need.” by Shannon L. Alder
1.The Big Parking Lot Sale held last Spring was a huge achievement. The effort involved more than 30 “Friends” assembled for the first time to support our very first public fund raiser. Many of the “Friends” donated numerous personal items to sell. Other “Friends” 
devoted many long hours and some hard labor in preparation of the sale and several “Friends” volunteered their time to be on site during and after the sale. All of these “Friends” helped raise $1,700 in a one day sale. These proceeds were added to previous donations to help us meet our $2,500 commitment to the Learning Center. This would not have happened without the exceptional generosity of these local “Friends”.
2. For almost two years we have been trying to develop a “Pathway” for students in Copey to travel to the United States to experience a US college campus and get a taste of higher education. Emory & Henry College in rural Emory, Virginia offers an ideal location on a beautiful and friendly
campus community very similar to the countryside of Copey. One significant highlight this year is the positive forward movement towards developing this “Pathway”.
The college is working with area civic organizations to help offset tuition cost along with room and board during their campus visit in Summer 2016. The Learning Center is currently receiving applications from students applying for this unique opportunity and “Friends” plans to raise funds to offset travel expenses for the students.
3. A related highlight for this year is the “Pathway” being set up for Emory & Henry College students to travel to Copey to do volunteer service in 
conjunction with the Bonner Scholars program. Bonner Scholars will be invited to apply for two volunteer positions to work at the Learning Center in late Spring 2016.
Both “Pathways” represent major achievements and will serve to bring even greater attention and support for the Copey community in both the short and long term. This also establishes a meaningful overseas volunteer sight for the Bonner Scholar students. 
Partnerships are very IMPORTANT to the support efforts provided by “Friends”. We believe that most partnerships can be non-financial in nature. We believe there are numerous ways to develop learning experiences as our Pen Pal programs demonstrate. At other times, we do encounter costs but the benefit is well worth it such as getting a couple students on a “Pathway” to higher education.
It is truly a major highlight to gain the confidence and support of an internationally recognized organization such as Kiwanis as it is also a major highlight to obtain the cooperation and alliance of a highly respected and prestigious small college.
4. Finally, there are some Blog highlights we can all be pleased with. We have already exceeded the 3,100 mark for visits in 2015 and the final month is still young. In 2014 we barely reached 2,900 visits. The United States accounted for 74% of the visits in 2015, Costa Rica 8%, Brazil 7%, and the remaining 11% came from countries including Canada, Portugal, Mexico, Indonesia, Italy, Russia, and many other smaller countries. And, visits to the Blog in January, June, and September 2015 alone totaled 1,036. For a Blog featuring a small learning facility in a very remote part of Central America, these are very impressive statistics. You deserve the credit for these numbers because of your willingness to visit the Blog each week or as often as you can. THANK YOU!
Nice recap and what a remarkable endeavor unfolding!
All of the good news comes at a time when we need to read about positive accomplishments to encourage us and nurture our souls while there is so much negative in the world. Thank you.