As we end the first decade of the 21st Century our agency is entering into a brief period of leadership transition. The worst economic struggle since the Great Depression that our nation is currently facing is, unfortunately, not a new or recent event for many in our rural and urban Fresno communities.

That is why I feel it is vitally important that we as a staff stand together and strive to provide the best possible services to our clients with the limited resources at our disposal.

As our President stated in his inaugural address almost a year ago “The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.”

Let our agency be that path to those “willing heart(s)” this year in Fresno wherever that need exists – be it in the field of the parched west side or the urban neighborhood identified as the poorest in the nation.

Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed 2010,


George Egawa
Interim Executive Director