A Note from the Executive Director

HODR Family,

Your HODR management group held our semi-annual get-together the week before last at my home in Carlisle, MA, culminating in a successful “Online All Hands” meeting on Friday which about 30 of you attended; the one-hour video replay is available here.

We discussed lessons learned from recent activities; Haiti Project Director Stef Chang reported on that extensive effort, including the local volunteer program and partnerships with other NGO’s. Bill Driscoll reported on our tornado response in Mena, AR, and our continuing engagement with the major coalition for voluntary disaster response in the US, NVOAD (National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster).

Other extended conversations covered our technology plans, ranging from Facebook/Twitter through our own use of GPS/mapping to help HODR and others be more effective, and how to increase our PR so that we can attract more volunteers and donations.

We were all pleased to add long-time volunteer/Project Coordinator Jeremey Horan as a new Project Director; this gives us additional capability heading into hurricane season, and allows us to retain the experience Jeremey’s accumulated with HODR over the past 3+ years; welcome, Jeremey!

We ended the management meeting on Friday, May 29 with the open “All Hands” webinar, and started the Board meeting that evening. Darius Monsef, a key contributor to our earliest days back in Thailand and our first HODR Operations Director, has joined the Board. You can read all about our Board of Directors and staff in the “About Us” section on our website.

Funding was an important topic throughout the management and board meetings. Our Monthly Giving program continues to grow with the additional 2 for 1 match through August. We’re now up to 27 monthly donors – Thank you! – and aiming for 100 by year’s end.

August 31 is the end of our fiscal year, and we need to raise about $50K to reach $500K in total donations which qualifies us for consideration by charity rating organizations like Charity Navigator; if you can help with a donation of any size, please do so right now.

Thanks for your interest and support, and please stay in touch!

David N. Campbell
Executive Director