Dear Friends,
I hope this update finds you well and that you are enjoying your summer.
In case you missed my email two weeks ago, our HEAVENDROPt social enterprise was featured on July 3 on Fox 13 Good Day Tampa Bay. Good Day Tampa Bay is hosted by Charley Belcher, who recorded six live segments from our HEAVENDROPt Largo, Florida warehouse. HEAVENDROPt staff members were interviewed and they shared our mission and showcased our products, all created by people with disabilities. One of the products was the second version of our face mask, which is made using recycled military parachutes.
We are happy to announce that we ended July 3 with over $32k in product sales and a backlog of more than 700 shipments. Within a week, sales jumped to $35k. Click here to watch one of the Good Day Tampa Bay segments.
Our fiscal year ended on June 30, and we remain optimistic that we ended with a fiscal surplus. However, we have increased expenses by more than one million dollars due to the impact of COVID-19.
That is why Evergreen has applied for assistance under the CARES Act. The recently passed CARES Act Provider Relief Fund is specifically targeted for Medicaid providers. Potential funding from the relief fund is a one-time distribution of up to 2 percent of annual Medicaid program fees. The funds will be restricted to reimbursing for healthcare-related expenses or lost revenues that are attributable to coronavirus and not reimbursable from other resources. Any unused funds will be required to be returned.
Even though we are faced with many challenges brought on by COVID-19, our mission continues. And, we need your financial support to help impact the lives of the individuals we serve so that we may be able to sustain all of our programs. Please donate today!
Our 12th Annual Celebrity Waiter Dinner, hosted virtually last month netted more than $70k! We are so grateful to everyone who sponsored, purchased tickets, participated in the online auction and who donated. The support was so needed this year. Our Harvest-themed event, which is scheduled to be held in Dallas, will also be hosted virtually due to COVID-19. It will be on the evening of Friday, October 23. We will be sending you more information on this soon.
Evergreen’s diligence and overly cautious approach to COVID-19 is working. We have seen fewer positive cases in our staff and persons served, but the overall number of new cases is declining. The fact that we are experiencing fewer cases in states with the opposite trends, is a testament to our staff members’ unwavering commitment to protecting the vulnerable people we serve.
In Kentucky, we have opened our day program for five individuals only, which is half capacity. The rest of our day programs will remain closed until we are confident we can protect the participants. One of the big problems with reopening day programs is how difficult it is to ensure the persons we serve properly wear a mask and practice social distancing.
I continue to receive calls from many of you who are eager to visit your loved one. I truly sympathize and hope we can work together to arrange a socially distant visit or a face time call if you have not already done so. We won’t be able to allow normal visits until the percent positive cases decreases significantly in the states where we provide services. If you have any additional concerns, please email me at [email protected] or call me directly at (318) 540-9825.
Thank you for your continued support. I look forward to the day when we can all meet together in person and be able to visit and hug our loved ones.
Warmly,
Sue Buchholtz
President/CEO