At yesterday’s staff meeting, Amber, Jenn and I discussed our plans for the final set of receptions next spring to wrap up our 20/20/20 program. You may recall that we decided to mark our 20th anniversary by staging 20 events, over 20 months, in 20 cities. The first event took place in Albany, NY in September 2009, and we expect the last one to be held in May 2011.

First we reviewed the grid we created almost two years ago of potential dates and sites, and compared that to another grid which reported where and when events actually took place. The original chart, now marked with revisions that obscured some of our initial plans, triggered a memory of how I felt when we created it. It seemed so unlikely that we’d accomplish everything. It was a daunting challenge. But this week’s review demonstrated that we’ve been, with a big assist from so many members of our community, up to the task.

As of now we’ve already produced 20 events. The most recent took place in Toronto on October 30th. I’ve reported on our progress in my thank-you letters to contributors, and predicted that we’d net $50,000 for our beneficiaries by the time we completed this series of programs, but our updated analysis revealed I have been too conservative. To date, we’ve already cleared $47,000, and we still have a bunch of parties to go! That’s correct, 20 events wasn’t enough. The total by next May will be about 25. That means we’ll probably clear closer to $60,000 for our beneficiaries.

Aside from its financial success, I’ve found it exhilarating to interact with hundreds of our supporters and meet hundreds more new friends in people’s homes or in community halls. This is especially so because many of those with whom I’ve spoken are engaged in such good work. I’ve written this before, but it is worth reiterating that despite the mainstream media’s failure to report it, there is a tremendous amount of local progressive organizing going on throughout the country.

So, it’s onward. This Sunday afternoon we’ll hold our 21st affair in Northern New Jersey [click here for details]. Maybe I’ll see a couple of you there. Then, although our plans are still tentative, we hope to hold the following programs: March - Long Beach, CA; April - Madison, WI and Boston, MA; May - Boulder, CO and Portland, OR. And if we haven’t come to your town, don’t feel left out. Just contact us and set up something for next fall. The 20/20/20 program will be over, but the RFC’s work will be far from done.

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