I can hardly believe another year has already flown by. It’s time to come together once more and celebrate our great nonprofit community and their contributions to the Pensacola Bay area. Collectively, 176 Sunday’s Child members contributed a total of $100,000 this year allowing us to award four grants of $25,000. Over the past 6 years Sunday’s Child members have contributed over $536,000. With the award of the 2020 funds our members will have impacted 20 charitable projects in the local area that improve the quality of life in our community and help to further our goal of LGBTQ+ inclusion, diversity and equality.

This spring our dedicated and innovative board members and member volunteers were able to keep us on track with our grant process so funds can get into the community on schedule. Focus groups led by board members and driven by volunteer members adapted to a virtual focus group process using an online meeting platform. Meetings, grant reviews, site visits and final voting were all accomplished online keeping everyone safe while getting the work done. I thank all those who participated for your dedication, commitment and adaptability. We truly could not do it without you.

On Sunday, June 28 we will come together once more to hear from our eight nonprofit finalists. This year the Annual Meeting will be hosted online using the meeting platform Zoom which worked out well for our focus groups. Our team is working hard to create an enjoyable online meeting experience. Online voting will be quick and easy and the four grant recipients will be announced at the end of the meeting. I hear we have some excellent projects competing. I hope to see you there.

LGBTQ+ Americans have enjoyed great progress in recent years but there is more to do. It is important that we are visible, that we are heard and that we set the example by contributing to and educating our community. Thank you for being a part of our message and a part of our success.

I look forward to serving as President of Sunday’s Child in the coming year. We have a few challenges ahead of us but I have great confidence in our talented board and our generous membership, and I know that together we will continue to make a positive difference in our community.