2019 Non-Financial Scorecard

During 2019, “Friends of Copey” volunteers continued to have a major role in our success, especially for the Pathway Project. We began to witness the volunteer impact in 2018 and then confirmed its very positive impact in the “2019 Pathway Project”.

Volunteers and their hours of support resulted in a very high quality project and provided significant cost reductions. It is most noteworthy to point out all of our key volunteers have now supported the “Pathway Project” for two or more years.

A key volunteer greets our guests at the Washington DC airport upon arrival and extends host services during the next 24 hours while in the DC area. Next, a key volunteer travels to the DC area to retrieve our guests and transports them to Emory & Henry College.

Then, upon arriving on campus there are numerous additional key volunteers waiting who have paved the way for room and board provisions, arranged for local transportation, and assist with shopping, educational, and recreational activities. The “Annual Reception” growing in popularity, is a key event voluntarily provided and funded. The combination of the support provided by all these key volunteers is “priceless”.

My local Kiwanis Club located in Richland, Washington at a distance of about 2,500 miles from the college campus, provides annually accounting services for the Pathway Project. This important voluntary service provides excellent documentation on income and expenses in support of the Pathway Project that extends across two countries.

These following volunteers did a “masterful job” providing support for the Pathway Project without charging anything to the project: Dr. Celeste Gaia, Monical Hoel, Zina Griffith, Dr. Edward Davis, George Whitley, Jane Rutledge, and Julie Meek. Each of these volunteers are commended for their substantial contribution of personal time and resources.

They are the “extra milers” who routinely go beyond expectations. They each add a unique gift of personalized richness to the experience each Copey student takes back home. 

Additional Areas of Non-Financial Support

All “Friends” in large and small ways contribute non-financially to our support for the Copey Learning Center. Certainly, there are some “Friends” who may think they do not contribute much of anything. I seldom see things that way.

It is always important to remember what “Friends of Copey” actually is. We are simply a collection of people who share a common interest in the Copey Learning Center…and in varying degrees. Some “Friends” pray for our success and others simply pull and push for our success. Then, some “Friends” financially support our success. The vast majority of “Friends” I know contribute in one or more of these areas.

Non-Financial Support Measurement Data

This Post closes out our 2019 year and represents Post #323 issued since December 2013.  The total number of Posts closely tracks to one Post per week for over six years and provides a long history of documentary evidence of our work and success. Much has happened and much has been reported over time.

The past four years provides strong evidence of a consistent interest and support for our work. One measurement I watch carefully each month is the frequency of visits to our Blog. This represents each of you opening the Post to read. Only you can impact or add to these numbers each week. So Be Counted!

The year 2017, was an unusually good year. Over 800 visits were recorded over the previous year 2016. Then, in 2018 we settled back to numbers closer to reality but remained  higher compared to 2016. And, the recorded visits for 2018 and 2019 indicate similar and continous levels of interest at the present time. The short message is “interest remains high” among followers of the Blog.

We can be very proud of these numbers since we basically stand alone in the Blogging World and do not fit the profile of traditional Blogs. We do not focus on selling products and services to the world of consumers. We are not set up for profit and our Blog is not political or social in nature. It is closely related to educational. The Blog offers absolute freedom to be or not to be involved. You alone determine without gadgets or some slick sales pitch, whether or not to visit the Blog, read the Post, and be an active “Friend of Copey”.

The Blog also tracks locations and you can see for 2019 the top two or three countries are easily understood. However, Hong Kong SAR China, Japan, Ireland, and others have long been a mystery and show up each year.

Our mission has not changed since the first Post was issued and we have remained true to our vision and principles. To this date, no “Friend” has received a dime of compensation or even reimbursement for either service or time provided. Domain expenses, printing, mailings, travel, and other expenses have all been donated. The only compensation provided has been in support of the salary for the Copey Learning Center Executive Director.

So, this is us…”Friends of Copey”, in 2019. We are at the doorstep ready to open the door to a whole new year. I ask you to remain connected and involved. You are the real story of success and we together can look forward to some wonderful accomplishments in 2020.

Always Grateful for Friends!