Dear friends of River City,

We are celebrating. Even in this new year that has proven its difficulty in its first days, we are celebrating. And you are the reason we're celebrating, because at year-end, you gave $83,805. It's an incredibly wonderful total that lets us enter this new year of challenges ready and with the resources we need.

The work being done with that $83,805 is so incredibly important. That importance comes through to me in small ways. I see it in the family that, after moving two neighborhoods away, pays for an Uber to come back to do their remote learning at R CITY as much as they can. I see it in the family newly immigrated from Honduras whose mom stays after dropoff to ask trusted people if we know a hair salon that speaks Spanish. And I see it in each year-end envelope I opened, how each of you stretched and gave generously--often gifts more than ever before.

These small but important moments remind me of the lesson that I have learned year after year in this community: no matter how great the challenges get, we can endure it together. If we're linked arm in arm with people who love us and stand with us faithfully, we remain encouraged and sometimes even laughing. If we stand together long enough, we can not only face but overcome those challenges, building the path we walk together toward a better future. Someday later when we look back, it will be these memories that fill us the most: the memories of the hard days when we stood together arm in arm, sometimes even laughing.

Thanking you with a full heart,

Elizabeth Galik, Executive Director