In just a little over 24-hours we will celebrate our 11th A Bridge to Change Benefit Event at Andina Restaurant. Sure, the pandemic put a little hiccup in our plans to hold annual events at Portland’s fabulous Andina Restaurant, but we are back in stride for 2023 and looking forward to an exciting night of great food, amazing wine, loyal friends, and sharing the tremendous impacts Health Bridges has made over the past 12-months.
What makes this event so important? HBI is a donor driven NGO. Our budget, a modest $750,000, comes predominately from generous individual donors. This is by design. We knew our best chance to truly make the sort of difference we are making in the child welfare sector was through the flexibility of individual donors. Sure, we are super fortunate to have family foundation dollars to support our work – however, the vast majority of investment comes from people who believe in the work of HBI.
Talk about a humbling notion. It is beyond my ability to express in words how much it means to have so many people believe in what we are doing.
HBI’s mission is working. It is working because you believe in our work, and you are investing in us.We are also an organization building and providing collaborative models for children, youth, families, and organizations to use towards fulfilling and healthy lives for themselves and their communities. We are championing children and the communities that care for them.
We need you to continue investing in us. When you make that investment, in a small, effective, and nimble NGO, serving the needs of some of the most marginalized children in Latin America, you help us build a pathway for long-term, sustainable change. We dedicate over 92% of all monies directly into programs so that our supporting organizations worldwide will have the skills and expertise to build their own Communities of Excellence. We are becoming the behind-the-scenes champions who are helping child-welfare experts and advocates change the way children in out of parental care receive services.
In over 25-years, our mission has never wavered…we envision a world where every child has access to the life they deserve. A life of health, hope, home, and purpose.
We need individuals who want to choose HBI as THEIR NGO. We need your support to change the world . . . together. So tomorrow night, when we come together to celebrate – we are also coming together to recommit. To reconfirm our dedication to changing the way children living in orphanges, residential facilities and state-run homes receive the care and protection they deserve. We are committing to invest in their future. #BetheBridge
One problem is that transitioning from old to new technology is more than a replacement phenomenon. The growth requires a massive infrastructure shift. This shift is not going smoothly. The new LED street lights are prone to glitching and, in some neighborhoods (ours included), essentially strobe all night. So much for more recent technology.