Daily Prayer Thread 9/27/03

Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org

Depleted Finances, Skyrocketing Needs and an Emotionally Exhausted Shelter Director

     The phone call from Joy Junction's business manager bought a black cloud to a formerly sunny day.

     "I just wanted to update you on the financials," he said.

     "We're about $45,000 under budget," he said.

     I hung up myself trying not to let myself be enveloped by an ever increasing familiar sense of depression and hopelessness.

     Like many ministries nationwide, we had experienced a bad financial year. Giving patterns on which we once relied were no longer running true to form since the terrors of 9/11. While we were thankful that 2002's so-called season of giving had at least allowed us to finish the financial year in the black, that was about all it had done.

     We'd had minimal funds to place in the savings account on which we once relied to get us through the traditionally cash shy months of June, July and August. And the summer stock gifts which had once being a regular summer staple had not come in either. I ran the situation back and forth in my mind trying to assess our options.

     Did we need to consider some cutbacks? While the need for our services was obviously there – we had been at capacity almost every night for many months – we could only do what we could with what we had, not with what we didn't have but wished we did nonetheless.

     I was also getting increasingly emotionally weary juggling a constantly difficult financial picture. Basically, I just couldn't see any light at all at the end of a very black tunnel.

     I was reminded of a comment that a ministry leader had made to me over 20 years ago just after I moved to New Mexico.

     The individual, a seasoned ministry veteran, looked at me one day as I was preparing to launch out into full- time ministry for the homeless. He said, "Money problems will never go away. You'll always be faced with money issues as long as you're running a non- profit ministry!"

     While I didn't pay a lot of heed to him back then, I have to admit now that he was right! But that notwithstanding, should we cut back? Operating on a day- to- day basis was wearing on me more and more the older I got.

     With no cash reserve, what would happen if one week we were unable to meet payroll? Should we lay off people in advance of a potential crisis or should we keep going just as we were and appeal to community generosity if we failed to meet our most basic financial needs – such as payroll? After all, it wasn't as if we could rely on established giving patterns any more. There weren't any. However, as bleak as our financial picture looked, one gift could totally change things overnight. My mind was spinning with all the thoughts going back and forth.

     It seemed as if people responded to a crisis but didn't recognize the ministry's ongoing needs. I remembered back to a few months ago when our walk- in freezer went down at the very beginning of the July 4th weekend. We faced the possibility of losing thousands of dollars of food and it appeared that there was nothing we could do about it.

     I alerted local media and people responded immediately – so generously in fact that the need was quickly met and we even had to ask people to STOP giving. Some time after this I was discussing with one of my staff both the overwhelming number of people who have been coming to Joy Junction for help and our bleak financial picture. He said to me in frustration, "While I'm grateful that people are so generous in a crisis like we had with the freezer, I wish they would also respond to needs like we're facing now in advance of a crisis."

     I knew what he meant. We had been trying to get the message out for months that in light of a poor season of giving in the closing weeks of 2002 the summer months of 2003 would be very difficult. However, donations just continued to trickle in slowly while the number of guests skyrocketed.

     In releases I talked about an "impending crisis" and a "potential crisis." Hating "emergency fund raising," I really didn't want to say we were in an actual crisis but as distasteful as it is, that IS where we are right now. Helping more guests than we have ever done, we can only continue operating at this level for a few more weeks at the most. Then unless things change, it will be layoff time and an accompanying reduction in services.

     While it doesn't have to come to that it appears that is the way things are headed right now. I have done everything I know to do. Now I'm just waiting and praying. The future of Joy Junction and the guests that it helps are in the Lord's hands.

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