"I want to thank each and every one of you"

Hello to our amazing Kansas City community leaders, do gooders, movers and shakers, difference makers and badass nonprofit professionals. Cheers to 2022!

Remember last year around this time we all thought, 2021 will be different, it will be “normal” it can’t possibly be anything like what we have just experienced in 2020. Well, different it was.. “normal”.. certainly not. Although 2021 brought its challenges, it also highlighted an enormous amount of resiliency in our community. Yet again I sit in awe of this community and especially our nonprofit organizations for how they rose to the occasion of providing for the essential needs in our community. They provided food, safe childcare, access to healthcare (and vaccines!), education, safe housing, exposure to the arts and so much more to some of our most vulnerable neighbors. While the work has certainly changed, the work ethic of this community remains steadfast. Thank you.

Like many of your organizations, Nonprofit Connect has seen changes and challenges as well. For an organization who is all about networking and in-person trainings, shifting into a fully virtual world is no light lift! Although we did dip our toe back in to the waters of some in person opportunities, for the most part we stuck to the screens. I am so thankful to the amazing Nonprofit Connect staff and our incredible board of directors for their insights, leadership and commitment to the work and getting it done right. I want to also take an opportunity to thank and celebrate EVERYONE who worked on the 2021 Awards Luncheon. What an amazing change to an already amazing event. We were able to tell the stories and honor the work of nonprofits and nonprofit professionals in our city and shed a light on the amazing work that happens everyday.

I want to thank each and every one of you for your perseverance, your commitment and your unwavering support of this community. Kansas City is better because of the work that YOU do every single day. The work can be hard, it can be thankless, it can be defeating but YOU show up every day to help others. Please know that the Nonprofit Connect, our board and our staff is continually committed to supporting you in your work.

We look forward to working with you and SEEING you in 2022!