The next graph shows the five year history of our fund-raising. It was a happy challenge managing the growth of the Fund in the first eight years, and now we look forward to

creating a stable organization that can continue helping refugees with a much slower rate of  growth. However, we have been building community through education for over a decade and, we have a large group of students, teachers and schools that are dependent on us. It is vital that we maintain our ability to continue that support. We expect a challenge raising money in 2009, and we will need help from all of you. In the past we have depended on our annual mail campaigns, and, of course, we will continue to pursue that source, but we do feel the need to seek more donations over the internet.
The following summary of income and expenses for 2008 shows we raised $21,721 more than we spent last year. Those funds will be kept over for expenditures next year. We have tried very hard to keep overhead low, and this year we spent only 2.5% of our total expenditures on overhead. We are able to do this not simply by our own efforts, but with the help of a number of generous professionals who have volunteered their time in our service. However, as the size and complexity of our organization grows, we come under increasing pressure to spend more money for administration, professional services, and the like, and that contributes to rising overhead.
This year we received a substantial grant from the B.K. Kee Foundation of $42,047 which supported all of our work in India, and $5,000 from the Brackett Family Foundation (no relation) which helped us with support for two primary schools in the IDP area of Karen state Burma. Encouraged by these grants which amounted to 20% of our total support, we will continue our work to find new sources of grant money in the future.

Our conservative policy never allows us to commit money we do not already have in hand. So our fundraising year typically begins at the end of March on our return home from Asia, and stops at the end of the calendar year on December 31. Those assets determine how much we can commit during our January through March trip. This year we have separated the Asset values from the Income and Expense Summary in an effort to be more clear in our presentation. The endowment values are less than last year because most have been invested in the stock market. The assets in our operating fund shown below are what we have to use for all of our programs in 2009.

This year we introduce a report on our most recent trip Asia, to discuss the current status of our work.
Encouraged by the success of our work in India last year, and with support from the B.K. Kee Foundation, we proposed expanding our work to include scholarship grants to high school students in Lunglei, Lawngtlai, and Saiha, three regional cities of Mizoram which have large numbers of Chin refugees. Some caution is prudent in this venture, because we will not be able to travel to these cities to meet the students and the new committees and to review their progress and results. However we were sensitive to the fact that many refugees live in these cities and there would be no help at all for them without our aid. To my knowledge we are the only organization supporting education for Chin refugees in India. Finally we decided to start with a small program and that was approved by the B.K. Kee Foundation. As it turned out the designated representative from Saiha was unable to meet with us so we started the program this year only in the two other cities.
Although the program in India is smaller than that in Thailand, it is fully as important, because we are essentially the only group serving education there. For us to continue our work there over a long term, it is crucial that we attract other persons to help us.
We were fortunate to have a full complement of TReps working in Thailand this year: Hoppy and Judy Winfield in Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, and Chiang Rai; Judy Noyes in Kanchanaburi, and Sangklaburi; and Alyson Illich, Barbara Rydon, and Janice Santikarn in the Mae Sot, and Mae Salit area. George and Patricia also did some fine work for us in Mae Sot. It was good to see our co-workers handle the affairs of our organization with experience, enthusiasm and efficiency, while remaining sensitive to the needs of our students.
We continued to have gatherings of our alumni in Sangklaburi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Mae Sot. A picture of the Mae Sot group is shown on the following page. We meet at a restaurant, and share food, and conversation. It gives us great pleasure to catch up with our older alumni, and to see them make contact and share ideas with newer graduates. We also benefit by having alumni volunteer to help us with new recruitment translating, and mentoring.
The following table shows projects supported in 2008 and those continued in 2009.

* The main factor contributing to decreasing costs of the projects in 2009 was the Thai baht cost less. One project was successfully finished. Another was transferred to a different group. And in a third the project manager was called to leave the area.
The next table shows the distribution of our university students according to school type.

* The status of some of these students is still unclear and so these numbers may vary slightly.

We granted $71,856 to our Leader Interns in Thailand, and $18,835 to those in India, including the one refugee medical student from Aizawl studying  in Armenia.
We supported forty-two students in high school and vocational schools in Thailand in our Study Grant Program.  The total cost of this program was $11,480.

Our Foundation is characterized by a broad and diverse collection of supporters, a good knowledge of the people we work with, and a close relation with the students and project leaders we help.  We do more than simply provide money. Because of our close relations with the people, we are accepted as friends and our advice is sought on many matters.  
We take this opportunity to thank all of our donors without whom this work would not be possible. We also wish to thank our refugee project directors, who are also volunteers, and who have committed themselves to working closely with us to ensure the integrity and success of our projects.  To our many refugee friends who have understood our commitment and who have shared their lives with us, we wish a happier future for them and their families.