September 27, 2016

Dear friends and supporters,

 

I am writing today to share two significant events for Growing Voices and our community.  Growing Voice's loyal donor community, DANA, and the Partnership For Children have successfully purchased a permanent home for Domestic abuse survivors in rural North Carolina.   DANA is now equipped with facilities to serve survivors in the Appalachian region and can operate with the certainty that the organization's presence is strong and unwavering.  This accomplishment feels tremendous, and we are so thankful to all who have supported this exceptional change.  We are proud to tell you that the work we tackled together in Malawi, Africa and Sparta, North Carolina, feels completed and the goals we made have been accomplished. 

 

After eight wonderful years of working together, Melissa and I have decided to dissolve Growing Voices and move in different directions.  Growing Voices was created with enthusiastic optimism and hearts full of passion.  Melissa and I were eager to build an organization that would avoid restrictive bureaucracies who weren't able to move fast enough to meet the needs of local citizens, as well as avoiding patterns of giving that reinforced an old and paternalistic structure.  We fought to stay intimate and connected to our projects and to seek impact that was real and documented   Our intentions were to build strong relationships with people doing great work and support them in shaping a stronger future for their communities. 

 

We confronted many challenges and learned humbling lessons.  We took precise and vigilant care with every dollar donated to us and worked hard to find resourceful ways to stretch and maximize every cent.  As we move forward, we are committed to staying connected to the progress of these projects, if you ever have questions or want updates please contact us.

 

We want to give special thanks to everyone who helped make Growing Voices possible. Through the hard work of this great community, we were able to give hope back to those in vulnerable and traumatic times.  We were also able to support big change in a small Northern fishing village of Malawi, Africa and give flight to the goals and visions of local leaders in the region.  We feel proud of our work and hope you do too.

 

Thank you!

 

Sincerely,

 

Quinn and Melissa