When our organization was founded ten years ago, we set out to fulfill what we perceived was a need. Hence our choice of name: Need Project. We saw that families who deal with special needs are in a unique situation, and many organizations that support families, one of which I was working for at the time, do not understand the issues they face. Being such parents ourselves, we wanted to either find or create resources that could help special needs families to thrive, promoting strong marriages, assisting people in hard times, and building reliable, resilient communities. This led us in many directions, spurring the creation of unique resources like our podcast. Interviewing experts, parents, and companies that offer support to families has allowed us to meet some incredible people and share their experiences with our audience. To date, our podcasts have been downloaded over 27,000 times, not including those who have listened to them directly on our website. Our other resources, like the local support search page and website links, have seen 4600 monthly visits on average.
While I am thankful for those numbers of visits to our website, what I am most grateful for is the reality that lies behind them. Those numbers tell us we were right; there is a need in the special needs community, and there are things we can do to help meet that need.
At the beginning of this year, we sat down to reflect on all our different initiatives, but also to look to the future. We took the time to talk with others and seek input regarding where we should be headed as a ministry, and where we could most effectively allocate our efforts. I think it was important to look at every project and resource we currently maintain. It isn't that we believe the programs we have been pursuing aren't good. Rather, it is more about deciding what we could be doing better. Where do we think we can make the biggest difference? While we came up with many great ways to help others more effectively, we want especially to invest in one project which has been on our minds since the beginning of our ministry. We believe it could be the most impactful thing we have yet done.
While parents may deal with different issues related to a specific diagnosis, there are common problems that connect all our families, marriages, kids, and the faith many of us share. We have started to conduct interviews with parents, asking questions about the struggles they face and the wisdom they have learned along their journeys. I believe we can learn from each other as a community; from failures and triumphs both. While we are unique in many respects, we are also all in this together. Since we count you as friends and family, we wanted you to be the first to see our new project, Parents to Parents. We are creating a video series in which parents share their experiences and insights on various subjects. Watch a short preview, featuring a few of my friends as they discuss their interactions with their local church:
To bring this project to reality, we are in need of resources to produce first-rate material. We believe the message from parents impacted by special needs children is powerful. We want to generate the absolute best we can to help every parent possible. Would you help this effort financially? With enhanced offerings through our site and more, we anticipate the need project can achieve its goals in 2017 with around $20,000. We're convinced that those touched by the special needs community can easily produce that amount. We hope that you might be challenged to offer a generous year-end gift to help this remarkable resource continue. Please Donate!