As the staff of UMCH reflect on the past year it is amazing all we have accomplished. We kicked off the year with the announcement of our conversion to the Nurse Family Partnership – NFP model for our Best Beginnings Program. This was a great step for us because it put UMCH on the national map for the type and caliber of service we offer. In March, several of the administrative staff jetted off to cold and chilly Boston to accept the award for the United Methodist Association’s Organization of the Year. What a great accomplishment for our organization!!!

The agency quickly got back to the grindstone and went through the COA accreditation visit. The staff at UMCH spent 5 months preparing for a 4 day visit from this group. The feedback was unbelievable as we had no deficiencies. What a great ACCOMPLISHMENT for UMCH. Before the heat of summer we then celebrated our first class of YouthBuild graduates. Those 13 young adults, and their families, were very proud of what they had accomplished. UMCH was very proud of them as well. Then the heat of summer arrived.

In July our annual golf outing was the most successful one day fundraising event we have ever had. We were several hundred dollars away from raising $20,000 in one day. What a great day for UMCH! While some of us were golfing, our business department was hard at work completing a grant application to be the fiscal agent for the entire Southern Region of DCFS. Guess what?? We got it! We had plans to revamp our website and this award sealed the deal because we now needed to communicate with agencies all over southern Illinois. We brought alive a new “dynamic” website that will do a great job of telling our story across the nation and serve a function for agencies needing to submit information to the new SILAN program.

Following this success was another grant announcement. The YouthBuild grant was announced and we were successful in not only getting continued funding for Jefferson County but expanding programming to Marion County. What a great success for our community, youth and UMCH. What more could be added to our year in review?

The announcement of the Illinois Great Rivers Alliance was not only a proud moment for UMCH but for 4 other United Methodist agencies. This sub corporation has great potential for this family of United Methodist agencies to find ways to benefit from our long heritage of United Methodism. This corporation has great potential to assist us in furthering our mission in serving more children and families in our community.

As you can see, there has been much to celebrate in 2007! UMCH continues to strive for excellence as we meet the needs of so many children and families. Please join us in celebrating our successes!!

For our donors and supporters, thank you for your generosity and helping us provide “healing today for a brighter tomorrow.” As we ring in the new year, we hope you are equally excited about the year to come.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!