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At Extra Hands for ALS we take great pride in keeping overhead costs to a minimum. To examine our IRS Form 990's: Joining Hands to Fight ALS We created Extra Hands in 2002 as a program of the Jack Orchard ALS Foundation. The idea for the program came in response to a simple question we were asked repeatedly by people with ALS and their families: "Research that may lead to a cure someday is interesting, but I need help now, so what can you do about that?" Underlying every ALS family's question is an unpleasant reality. No matter who they are or what their financial situation is, ALS changes how the family works. One person loses the ability to do his share of the chores and errands, then the ability to take care of himself, then even the ability to stay alive if left alone. Forget about the big issues like mortality or hopelessness. What about cleaning the bathroom? Or feeding the dog? And when does the caregiver get a break? The fact is that they can't find hope when they are overwhelmed just trying to make it through another day. 
We began recruiting students to volunteer to help ALS families with chores
and errands in the Spring of 2002. At our first presentation before a school assembly we thought we
might attract a handful of students. When more than 50 of them asked how to apply, nearly 10% of the
entire student body, we knew we were on to something. From that auspicious beginning we realized we
could achieve numerous interconnected goals in the fight against ALS by building a nationwide network
of eager, impassioned young adults. Through their dedication and hard work on behalf of the families
with whom we match them Extra Hands can serve many purposes. It can:
Although we initially operated Extra Hands for ALS as a program of the Jack Orchard ALS Foundation,
in 2003 we decided to make it a separate charity. Today, Extra Hands for ALS is an independent entity. The
Jack Orchard ALS Foundation is now one of many sponsors.In 2004 we continued the expansion of the program into new cities. First we opened in Boise, a city that was not originally incorporated in our plans, but when we met the extraordinary team of people who now run the program there we could not say no. Next was Dallas, our first city in the south. Thanks to a sizeable grant from the RGK Foundation in Austin we were able to scale up quickly there. In 2005, we began receiving national attention. Among other things our founder, Jack Orchard, was publicly recognized for his efforts in the fight against ALS by Volvo of North America which named him as one of nine finalists from a national field of 4,272 nominations in the annual Volvo For Life Awards. This honor included a $25,000 contribution from Volvo and thrust Extra Hands into the national media generating countless expressions of support for and interest in the program. With broader public awareness of our work we have been able to shift our fundraising efforts away from events toward campaigns and grant applications. Although events are fun they are also expensive, difficult to organize, and unreliable in terms of generating revenue. As our operations have become more sophisticated and professional we have been able to generate more revenue more reliably with less expense and time investment. The result is that more of each dollar you generously make available to us can be applied toward growing the Extra Hands program. The first big advance for us in 2006 was bringing in a new leader. Our CEO, Jim Presbrey, had spent the last seven years designing and building Play It Smart, a youth development program targeted at kids from tough inner city environments. In seven years, he took this program from a small pilot at a high school in New Jersey to a national program in 135 locations in 35 states. Jim Presbrey knows what it means to produce results, and we're excited to have him. 
Another advance in 2006 was expanding Extra Hands in two new locations, Denver and Westchester, NY. In Denver, we joined forces with a husband-wife team, Steven and Jennifer Bishop, who had been the national chairs for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. They joined us at the tail-end of 2005 and have spent this year building a vibrant Extra Hands chapter in the mile-high city. And Westchester is brand new, growing under the direction of Julia Zinberg and her mother, Lynette, who are rallying the troops at Horace Greely High School.
In 2007 we introduced a new program structure based on the successful pilot in Westchester, one managed by a high school-based Extra Hands Club under the supervision of a faculty member. This model allows us to extend the Extra Hands program into new areas at virtually no cost, and then use those pilot operations as a base onto which we will later add our familiar structure managed by a paid Program Manager. All in all, Extra Hands has trained and matched almost 1,000 students with more than 250 ALS families around the country. The program generates over 30,000 volunteer hours annually with a staff of just nine people. Our cost structure is well below the national average per volunteer hour, and we're pushing it even lower every day to squeeze all the juice out of every dollar we spend. Your support is very important to us. We plan to keep you as informed as possible. If you have questions, be sure to contact us to get answers. We look forward to hearing from you. |
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