Dear SPIN Employee,

Today marks SPIN’s New (Fiscal) Year’s Eve! What a year it’s been; filled with a great combination of excitement and challenge!

Since my last letter on April 22nd, we have made excellent progress, especially in our thematic goal of increasing SPIN’s profile. The tremendous excitement of being a finalist in the first ever Wawa Foundation Hero Award has been an excellent opportunity to engage with supporters, old and new. 110,000 people were reached across social media as part of the Hero Award voting campaign. A record number of the 1110,000 actively engaged with SPIN by liking, sharing, positively commenting, and (hopefully) voting for us. We were also featured on NBC 10 news as part of this event. Several thousand new people now know more about SPIN!

In recent weeks, we have also opened two new homes; one in Lehigh and one in Philadelphia. These homes are now providing five more people with a life of possibilities! The beginning of summer finds us finishing up on a phenomenal school year for hundreds of little ones, busily preparing for summer camp and the STAP program, renovating the NCC and still growing Employment Services, just to name a few highlights.

The Executive Team and I held nine Roundtable discussions throughout the organization in June to share the new Annual Plan for 2017 with everyone. We enjoyed these interactive discussions and plan to hold Roundtables on important topics at least twice this year. If you missed participating in one of these events, the new Annual Plan will be posted in every building and will be on the website. Our #1 goal for the coming year is to achieve improved rates for our services while continuing to increase our quality.

Finally, I have some good financial news to close the year. As of May 31, we are no longer in a deficit. Our surplus of just over $200,000 meets the requirements of our banking covenants. Hopefully we will have more good news when we close our books for the year in late July.

I thank you all for a great year of dedication to SPIN’s Pillars and to supporting people to achieve and enjoy a Life of Possibilities! Stay tuned to SPIN messages to learn if we win the Hero Award on July 4th!

My best wishes for you and your families to enjoy a fun, safe and healthy summer!

Kathy