Executive Director's Summary

A year to remember? Yes.

As we look back at the year 2020, we all have stories to tell. Stories that include changed lives, loss, missed moments with family and friends and a pandemic isolation from what would be considered our "normal" life. With all the reflection and sadness that has been a part of the year, there has also been something else.

Working day to day with the nonprofits in our service area, we at the Foundation have been witness to something striking, generated by our community partners: resilience, creativity, and a dogged focus on mission.

If we go by strict definition we see resilience defined as: "the ability to recover or adjust to misfortune or change"; creativity, "the tendency to generate ideas, alternatives or possibilities to solve problems"; and mission, carrying out the "core purposes of an organization".

Our nonprofit partners have faced many difficulties during this past pandemic year, but through it all, they have demonstrated such determination to meet the moment and passion to continue their work to bring positive change to lives and communities.

Our scholarship recipients have also faced much as they have pursued their academic goals. To have all one's dreams of college life upended so quickly and forced into a remote environment has been very difficult and painful for many, and yet again we witnessed resilience, determination, and the ability to seek new solutions despite all.

In this annual report you will read grantee stories of a few of the many nonprofit organizations that have shown these remarkable characteristics during difficult days. To all of our partners this past year, we are grateful for your work, for who you, are and for what you have accomplished.

Amazing resilience, astounding creativity, and a deep and abiding focus on mission. We at the Foundation are in awe of you, and are grateful for your partnership always - but especially, through challenging days.

In gratitude -

Joan Gardner-Goodno
Executive Director
Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation