Dear Chaverot, As the calendar year shifts to mark the year 2010, we can take stock of our challenges and successes. I am pleased to report that 2009 was a successful year for Na'amat Canada. Our fundraising efforts made us justifiably proud, our Board is sparking some forward-thinking innovative ideas, and most significantly, our resolve to remain financially and socially committed to the projects under our sponsorship in Israel remain as strong as ever. On the home front, our Membership Committee has been very productive. Our new pin will soon be available and we are all looking forward to a National Leadership Seminar in the fall. Our Fundraising Committee is working on a cross-country project that will inspire new and creative fundraising opportunities for our cities. Several cities have had successful events, partnering with other organizations, thus enabling Na'amat to reach new supporters for our causes. Our Education Committee is working to inspire us with nuggets of information to share and we have disseminated a new brochure for Canadian visitors to Israel, promoting touring Na'amat installations. In other respects, 2009 was challenging. We know only too well that financial scandals elsewhere in the world, joined with a recessionary economy, impacted on donations and contributions that would normally be forthcoming. Despite the roadblocks we may be forced to overcome, we, the members and friends of Na'amat, must keep our eyes on our mission. In Israel, the need continues to be great. There are so many women and children and teens and families that depend upon Na'amat for assistance. Our daycares are working at full capacity and there is a great need for more daycare spaces. Na'amat is working to fulfill the increasing need for services for battered women and counseling for the batterers, as well as helping teens find their way, to name a few. In turn, we need to step up to the plate, despite the difficult times. We need to raise our level of fundraising to meet the challenges in Israel as well as the unique challenges of fundraising in each of our cities. It is true that our organization will not be able to solve all the problems in our path, but we also know that we are in a position to make an important difference. I maintain that our successes, based on the tireless efforts of our members, match those of any volunteer organization in the Jewish world. Indeed, we not only match but, more often, surpass. This is possible because our goal to sustain the impact that we make in the lives of less fortunate others remains as fresh today as ever. The words of novelist Marcel Proust come to mind. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” We as an organization must search out new opportunities to step beyond that which we already do. We must look upon that which we do so well with new eyes and try it again for the very first time! Respectfully, Rivka Shaffir