Jennifer Johnson: Hello, my name is Jennifer Johnson and I am the Deputy Director of San Juan United Way here in Farmington, New Mexico. So grateful for the opportunity today to get to speak to you through this incredible podcast and to, in general, thank San Juan Regional Medical Center for so many different things that they have done for our community and for San Juan United Way specifically.

So for anyone who may be new to San Juan United Way or unsure of who we are and what we do, we are a local nonprofit organization who fights for the health and wellbeing of our friends, families and neighbors in our community through our annual campaign and ongoing advocacy. Over the past 30 years, for example, the employees at San Juan Regional have raised over $5 million through their San Juan United Way campaigns and that money has benefited hundreds of local nonprofits as well as various national and international organizations. This is because when you participate in the annual campaign, what you're doing is you have the opportunity to give a dollar amount out of each paycheck to support that which is important to you through our Community Impact Fund or by selecting an individual nonprofit, whether it be local or national or international that means something to you. So whether you give to the Community Impact Fund, you give to the regional animal shelter or you give to St. Jude's, anyone whom you select, we give a hundred percent of what you donate directly to them. And that is thanks to local organizations who support our mission and our work so that we're able to pass all of that money directly to organizations and keep none for our own operating costs.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you, not only for your continued essential work that you perform for our community, but also for the impact that you may have not realized you've made above and beyond that everyday call of duty. For example, thanks to the partnerships with San Juan Regional Medical Center, especially early on in the pandemic, we were able to form community action groups to identify and address the new wave of unprecedented need that we were feeling in our community. This was in the form of housing and transportation for COVID-positive individuals and families, as well as capacity building for overwhelmed nonprofit organizations locally, such as shelters and feeding programs who faced capacity and funding limitations.

Over these past several COVID years especially, thanks to the support of San Juan Regional Medical Center and our incredible community, we were also able to distribute over $300,000 in federal grants to local nonprofits for emergency food and shelter, as well as rental and utility assistance. Also through the pandemic, we did see the numbers of homeless individuals and families skyrocket as a result of various barriers, including job loss, loss of transportation, lack of affordable housing or shelter space, and having or having been exposed to the actual virus itself.

However, again, this podcast is nothing but positivity, and my report to you is on nothing but positivity. Because of you and your generosity, we are able to address these issues while you continue to do the essential work that you are doing. So, you are every day still continuing to lift up other pockets of the population who need assistance to be able to continue to live their best lives.

So, I look forward to potentially getting to speak to you again as we kick off the campaign in the fall. But I know that I have not had the opportunity to get to shake each and every one of your hands and to thank those of you who have continued to support us as well as those of you who are considering getting involved in the future.

Anytime you have any questions or comments, concerns, we're here. We love to hear the input of the community, especially these frontline workers who are able to identify barriers such as these. And I just really thank you again from the bottom of my heart and I look forward to a future partnership with San Juan Regional Medical Center. I hope you all have a wonderful day and keep up the great work.