As 2018 comes to a close, it seems only appropriate to take a little time to look back with thankfulness and forward with anticipation.

Here are just a few highlights from this past year for which we thank God:

• The Launch of Restoration Counseling on East Colfax – It is has been encouraging and fun to play a small part in all that God has done to bring Deb Ford and RCEC to the point where they are today, able to provide much needed counseling services to those struggling to be free of various addictions.
• The Growth of ROP’s Wednesday Lunch Outreach – Associate Executive Director, Tom Adams, and his awesome team of volunteers serve a Chick-fil-A lunch, clothing, hygiene items, prayer and a lot of love to 70+ homeless people every week, rain (snow) or shine.
• Thanksgiving Dinner at Crawford Elementary – With the partnership of several churches, more than 100 volunteers and our Flourish East Colfax collaborators, ROP facilitated our first Thanksgiving Dinner at our community’s elementary school. The school and we are already looking forward to next year.
• Whole Foods’ support of ROP’s Food Bank – The addition of Whole Foods as a regular provider of food has allowed our food bank to offer fruits, vegetables, dairy products and other perishable items for the first time in more than 10 years. Our community loves it.
• Volunteers and Staff – I cannot consider things for which I am extremely thankful without thinking of ROP’s High Impact Volunteers and Staff. During 2018, more than 60 volunteers partnered with ROP on a regular basis (mostly weekly and many two or more times each week). And how I thank God for ROP’s awesome staff, many of whom have served with me since ROP’s beginning as an independent non-profit 11 years ago. These people are the heart of our ministry and I count it a great privilege to partner with each one of them.
• Financial Partners – Of course, ROP’s financial partners are the other key ingredient that God uses to maintain and grow our ministry. As of today, ROP has received $516k in donations (to ministry and staff support) from more than 400 different donors during 2018, more money from more people than in any of ROP’s previous 10 years of existence. Thank you, Lord indeed!

As we look forward into 2019, here are just three areas in which we anticipate God moving and for which we covet your prayers:

• Children’s Director – ROP has been without a Children’s Director for almost a year. While we have managed to keep both our Wednesdady evening Spark program and the Reading Mentoring program at Crawford Elementary going, we really need someone to help us reach out to and make an impact in the lives of more children in our community. This will become an even more critical need if we acquire the 1523 Boston Building with its awesome youth facilities (see next item).
• 1523 Boston Building – As we have mentioned in previous communications, the building across the street (previously occupied by the Boys and Girls Club) is on the market and we are feeling led to try to buy it. The Anschutz Foundation has already committed $300k toward its purchase. Please pray that, if this is God’s will for ROP and our community, He would help us raise the additional funding needed to make this a reality.
• Flourish East Colfax – After seeking and praying for a key person (aka “Community Connector”) to do some grass roots work for Flourish East Colfax, we now have two people – yay! Please pray they integrate well into the FEC team and the community development work ROP is doing with our FEC partners.

Well friends, that’s pretty much it for this eblast and this year. Just one last low-key and no-pressure appeal for financial support. (Hey, it’s part of my job :-). To all those who are already regular supporters and/or have made a year-end donation – thank you, thank you! However, if you have been considering a year-end gift to ROP and have not yet made one, we sure would appreciate your taking a moment to do so as God leads. Not withstanding, the fact that we have raised more money than in any previous year (as mentioned above), we have also spent more and at this point are still about $15k short of finishing the year with revenue greater than expense.

Thanks again for your partnership in ministry.  If you feel led to make a year-end donation, you can do so with your credit card by clicking on this link to ROP’s website, or you can mail a check to ROP, PO Box 632, Aurora, CO 80040. Checks must be postmarked by 12/31/18 to be deductible for 2018 taxes.

A couple months ago, I announced in one of our “Urban Voices” newsletters that the building across the street from ROP (formerly the Boys and Girls Club) had gone up for sale and we were feeling led to try and buy it. Well, we still feel that way and remain pretty excited about what this could mean to ROP’s ministry and our community in terms of:

• Youth Ministry – the 1523 Building provides wonderful space for kids to play including a full size gymnasium with 6 basketball hoops and an outdoor playground.
• Existing programs – the 16,500 square feet of space includes several large classrooms which would provide expanded space for the growth of our ESL, Work Readiness and possible future programs.
• Community Development – moving most of our existng programs across the street would allow us to use our existing building to better support our Community Development efforts for formal and informal neighborhood gatherings and activities.
• Hospitality for the Homeless – We envision using the front of our existing building as a Hospitality Room for people from the neighborhood, and especially our homeless neighbors to gather or just hangout, especially when the weather is extremely hot or cold.

To help everyone better conceptualize the expanded “ROP campus” and how the space will be used, we got some help preparing some conceptual drawings, which I am including with this eblast. (These are kind of small, so if you would like 8.5 x 11 versions of any or all of these drawings, feel free to ask and I will send them to you.  To make that request, click Contact Us.)

I am also very excited to report that The Anschutz Foundation has already made a commitment of $300k toward the purchase of the building. This commitment is contingent upon raising the additional funding needed to make an acceptable offer (probably $1 million give or take) and providing the Foundation (and ourselves) sufficient assurance that we can also support the related increases in ROP’s operating budget.

Our hope and prayer is that this significant demonstration of support might help to encourage others to partner with ROP and The Anschutz Foundation in making this dream a reality. So please pray with us to that end if this acquisition is truly God’s will (as we believe it is) and feel free to forward this to anyone who might be interested in learning more about this extraordinary opportunity to make a major impact in the life of our community.

It is with great thankfulness to God and all those who chose to participate that I report to you that Restoration Outreach Programs received 87 donations totaling $59,505 through this year’s Colorado Gives Day. This is 7 more donors but about $6k less than received last year (perhaps somewhat influenced by the change in tax laws). Still, we are humbled by this generous outpouring and tangible expression of support for what God is doing through ROP’s ministry and pledge to exercise careful stewardship over these and all the gifts entrusted to our care.

If you missed Colorado Gives Day, it is not too late to make a year-end donation to ROP and help us finish 2018 in the “Black” (revenue > expense). Right now it looks like it will take about another $30k of income to reach this goal. If you would like to help us reach this goal, please make your check payable to ROP and mail it to PO Box 632, Aurora, CO 80040