I have a good friend who is a runner. For years, he refused to run a half marathon because he didn’t want to do half of anything. All or nothing was his motto, yet he never ran a full marathon either. Finally, he ran a half marathon and afterward, he admitted that 13.1 miles is still a long way. He told me it didn’t feel like half of anything.
 
June marks the halfway point of the year. It’s hard to believe that 2023 is half over and many of us are already talking about 2024. We’ve been going at a pace that feels like we’ve already finished. But not yet. We still have six months to go.
 
We set forth five key priorities we want to work on. First is strategic revenue growth and diversification. Second is talent optimization. Third is to strengthen and support sustainability. Fourth is technology enhancement, and fifth is assessing and enhancing our culture.
 
We’re moving the needle on each of these priorities, but we know that in some cases, it takes longer than six months or even a year. Some of these require ongoing work even after we’ve reached our goal. 
 
The purpose of everything we do at Buckner lies in fulfilling our mission of, “following the example of Jesus by serving vulnerable children, families and seniors.”

It all points to that. As of this week, we have 1,381 senior adults living in our six communities. That puts us at 83% occupancy across all levels of care. Since the start of the year, BRS has served a total of 2,307 people. 
 
We’ve also served 10,833 children and families through the ministries of BCFS, along with another 5,233 people through our domestic aid ministries. Our affiliated international ministries report a total of 23,638 lives served through April, for a BCFS total of 39,794 lives impacted through the first four months of this year.
 
Protecting children. Strengthening families. Transforming generations. Serving seniors. That’s our driving passion.
 
As we enter the second half of 2023, we still have a lot of work to do. This is the time of year when we live in two years – 2023 and 2024. We have started the budget planning process for 2024 and are looking ahead at our strategic initiatives as well. Over the next two to three months, we will be deciding on our priorities for next year. But as we do so, we can’t forget that we still have plans for 2023 that we need to complete. But more importantly, we serve people whose needs are now, not next year.
 
It's June, that time of year when we think about vacations and spending time relaxing and enjoying our friends and family. I hope you are planning time this summer to get away from work and just focus on fun and relaxation. This is a good time to re-energize yourself. We all need that time away.
 
To our donors, volunteers and other stakeholders, your continued support is what makes our ministry go. We are so grateful for your participation in this work. I hope you also have a relaxing summer.
 
God bless you.