May 26, 2010 Greetings! Imagine not having a home of your own to return to each night. Imagine spending over 60% of your monthly income on rent and having to choose between that or food. Imagine living on a disability pension and having critical health supports, such as orthotics, cut from your benefits. Or imagine being a person with a disability willing and able to work and only finding doors close rather than open. These situations are real and exist right here in our community. You have probably heard about them, read about them in the newspaper, or indeed, you know someone who is living them. If you are like me, you care deeply about the impact of these conditions on people's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and ultimately on the health of the community. With your help, we can work to bring about change — change that will renew people's hope and faith in themselves and in their community. Imagine what we can do together! Your donation makes a huge difference Some of you may say that these situations are beyond the control of our community. Some of you may say that it takes too much time, political will, or a change in government to make any real difference. In part you are right; but here at Nelson CARES Society, our experience shows us that real change is occurring right here, right now now, one person at a time. Over and over again in our programs we see people grab hold of a lifeline of support extended their way. And with that support they have found the courage to transform their lives. That is how we feel when we receive your donations. We feel supported and inspired to continue our work knowing we have the whole community behind us. This past year, Nelson CARES Society's Board of Directors and staff imagined the kind of future we want to see emerge from our efforts. I want to share this with you as I am sure it reflects your vision for our community. We envision a socially-just society where: Everyone has adequate and safe housing Everyone has access to support & representation when they need it Everyone has adequate means & resources to participate fully in community life; and Everyone takes responsibility for environmental stewardship Every day our staff and volunteers work toward these ends whether at our Advocacy Centre, at Stepping Stones Homeless Shelter, at Ward Street Place (our low-income apartments), in our Residential and Supported Employment Programs for people with developmental disabilities, or in our Earth Matters environmental stewardship program. In recognition of your generosity, we have enclosed a small gift for you — a 10% discount coupon for use at our Earth Matters ECO store — a social enterprise retail store that sells environmental lifestyle products while proudly employing people with disabilities. Check us out at www.earthmatters.ca. It's Easy to Help! Please consider a gift of $35, $50, $75, or whatever you can afford. Use the enclosed envelope or drop it by our office! We can also accept your donation by MasterCard or Visa using the PayPal method. Just go to our website at www.nelsoncares.ca and click on the link. You will be sent a charitable tax receipt for your donation. We hope you will join us in our critical work by making a donation now. Thank you! Yours sincerely, Jody Dudley Chair, Board of Directors   P.S. For only $2 you can become a member of the Society which entitles you to vote on Society matters and an opportunity to join our Board. The more members we have, the more community support we can convey to other funding groups.   — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —