Happy Thanksgiving!

For Americans, today is an important day to give thanks for the many blessings we have in our lives.  I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your support of Atlas Service Corps.  When I left my job about 8 months ago to follow my dream, it would have been hard to imagine how much help I would receive and together how much we could accomplish.

In the last six months, Atlas Corps has a lot to be thankful for:

1.      Launched an amazing website – www.atlascorps.org  - Thank you Vinod for all your hard work!

2.      Signed up 8 “Host” nonprofit organization partners, each willing to pay $16,000 per Fellow: Ashoka, AYUDA, Free the Slaves, Global Giving, Mobilizing America’s Youth, Youth Service America, and Youth Venture - Thank you for your support and confidence!

3.      Recruited over a dozen committed volunteers – 4 of whom agreed to come to Colombia for 2 months - Thank you Sarah, Ryan C., Clara, Kristy, Tim, Vanessa, Ryan M, Jan, Amanda, Arielle, Paul, Yeisy, Courtney, Selena, Caroline, Lindsay, and so many others!

4.      Signed on an impressive Board and Senior Advisory Board - Thank you Courtney, Gared, Bill Drayton, David Bornstein, Dawn Rittenhouse, Ed Freel, Ramesh Bajpai, Geri Crichley, and others!

5.      Developed Colombian and Indian Program Boards to develop the program and nominate Fellows – Thank you new friends and supporters!

6.      Received our 501(c)3 tax-exempt status - Thank you Jamie and Nixon Peabody for your support!

7.      Held 5 fundraisers and secured foundation and corporate sponsors - Thank you Host Committees, Omidyar and DuPont!

8.      Received donations from over 250 individuals across the United States and around the world - Thank you everyone!

9.      Received additional pro-bono legal support from Arnold & Porter - Thank you Matt!

10.  Signed up over 600 people to be our newsletter - Thank you all of you!

Last Thanksgiving we met this young girl in India and shared a small part our meal with her!

Thank you so much for all of your support!  We at Atlas Corps appreciate all of your advice, resources, introductions and words of encouragement!

Thank you for proving that with a good idea and a lot of hard work, it is possible to make big dreams a reality.  We still have an important month ahead of (especially with raising money), but almost all of the pieces are in place for an outstanding 2007. 

We are setting out to build an infrastructure that will increase international cooperation and empower us all to make a great difference in the world.  Stay tuned, we expect more exciting news in the coming weeks!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

p.s. If you would like to receive our end of year mailing, please reply back with your mailing address.