The International Secretariat is launching a campaign to become more financially self-sufficient. COncretely they hope to move from nearly 60% reliance on the Daughters of Charity and the Congregation of the Mission to just 10% over a 25 year period. The full text of the letter co-signed by Fr. Gregory Gay and Yasmine Cajuste, respectively Director General of the VMY and International President of the VMY follows below.
The text is also available in other languages.
Dear brothers and sisters of the International Vincentian Family,
Receive this warm greeting from the International Council and the Secretariat of the Vincentian Marian Youth Association. On this feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal it is our hope that this message finds you well, with your heart burning.
Give a little! This is the theme of the self-financing campaign which the whole Association will become involved in from 2012-2014. From the time of the creation of the international structure in 1999, our Association has been greatly dependent on the generosity of the General Council of the Daughters of Charity and the Congregation of the Mission. Their annual contribution represents 56% of our revenue while the support from the national councils provides us with 9% of our income. We want to change this situation so that 90% of our revenue is received from our efforts at self-financing. It is for this reason that we propose to collect a large sum of money that will be added to the Patrimonial Fund of the Vincentian Marian Youth and thus guarantee for the next twenty-five years the financial independence of our international structure. We believe that now is the time to take this important and decisive step.
We believe that our primary base from which we can gather together most of this money is the members, groups, and councils of the Vincentian Marian Youth. A specific objective will be established for each country and we request the collaboration of our members as well as the collaboration of other individuals and groups who support the Association on the national and/or international level.
On December 8th, 2011 we will officially launch this campaign on the international level. On July 18th of each year we will publish a report which will show the results of our efforts. The campaign will conclude at the end of 2014. We believe that this time presents us with an opportunity to involve many people in the organizational consolidation of the Vincentian Marian Youth on both the national and the international level. All of this will result in our being able to provide better service to young men and women and to those persons who are most in need … we will be able to respond in a more effective manner to the challenges that the new forms of poverty present to us.
The International Team is very hopeful as this campaign is launched. We are convinced that this is an opportunity to discover how God multiplies our gifts when we are able to offer him only a few fish and a few loaves of bread.
Today is the day! Let us reaise up this plan in our prayer because this campaign is essential for the present and for the future of this beloved Association of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.
To Jesus with Mary,
Gregory G. Gay, C.M. Yasmine Cajuste
Director General of the VMY International President of the VMY
Tags: Appeal, JMV, Youth
