Ken’s Corner

As we begin a new year, I want to share some updates on our programs here at SVP. We continue to operate the largest food outlet in Spokane County, serving
approximately 25% of the emergency and supplemental food to county families. We project that in 2010 we will provide 1.4 million pounds of food to area residents.
It is now typical for us to serve 250 families on Wednesdays alone. Our clothing bank is also serving record numbers. Utilization of services from our emergency and seasonal programs and those provided by our on-campus partners is also at extremely high levels.

Because of the generosity of our donors and volunteers, we are able to turn
$420,000 (donations) in operating revenue into over $3 million in services. We have
operated with a staff of eight and an administrative cost of less than 7.25%. (The
“standard” for our type of organization is 15 %.). These numbers are achieved by
leveraging all of the in-kind donations and volunteer hours we receive; and for this
we are most grateful.

Unfortunately, the hard dollar costs of our operations have been running over
$540,000 per year. No organization can sustain annual loss of $120,000 for long;
and SVP is no different. Our Board has made the difficult decision to reduce our
staff (our only significant controllable expense) by two positions. Therefore, we will
be contracting externally for some development and program services starting in
January 2010. While these cuts are difficult and present some challenges, they are
necessary if we are to continue providing the critical services that our community
expects from us. And, we remain committed to do just that.

What you can do to help:
• tell a friend, neighbor, relative or coworker of our services, and encourage
them to invest in our work
• encourage your church to help, if they are not already doing so (about half
of area congregations contribute)
• talk to organizations you do business with about the value we provide
or community
• volunteer if you can (we especially need drivers that can pick up food at
local groceries and food drives as well as help with administrative tasks)
• serve on one of our event committees (Golf or Ladies Nite Out)
• talk to your local elected officials; and ask them to consider direct financial
support as part of their annual budgeting process (yes, cities can do this).