Well, I’m still here.

I feel very grateful for all the support by a close circle of people who have worked to help sustain the Friends & Neighbors program that is coordinated through the Mullis Senior Center.

As the article stated several weeks ago (“Volunteer aid program in peril”, Dec. 7, Journal, page 1), funds for the program had been exhausted at the end of September.

Thanks to Virginia Otto and her work with the Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation, we were given money to take us through to the end of Dec. I could not imagine our senior population without this service.

In the meantime, Jim Stegall and Liz Illg offered to go speak with Scott Rasmussen (Journal editor) about our dilemma. Thank you Jim, Liz and Rita.

Scott was compassionately concerned, and interviewed Jim with his enthusiastic volunteer Rita O’Clair. I want to thank Scott for his genuine interest and for the time he spent to hear the full story of our dilemma.

I was overwhelmed with the great article he wrote and the amount of space he provided to inform the public about Friends & Neighbors and our needs.

I want to let everyone know, that with this focus, in less than two weeks we have received generous donations which allow me and the program to continue this essential service well into 2012.

We are confident that we will have the funds to support us for another full year before long.

I am awestruck by the speed with which you, the community, have responded. I have seen this community’s generosity time and time again, but have not had it touch my life as directly as it has now.

Thank you also to Joyce Sobel for all her work and encouragement, and Pamela Gross for her hard work with Curt (VanHyning) to create an ongoing presence for Friends & Neighbors on the Community Foundation’s website, http://sjicf.org

How great is that.

Pam Fry

San Juan Island

— Editor’s note: Pam Fryis coordinator of the Friends & Neighbors program