Happy Birthday to Our Executive Director

Our Children of the Americas blog is usually reserved for updating our supporters and donors with current events related to our goals as an organization. But today we are making the choice to use this platform to thank our Executive Director, Rosemary Vance.

This is Rosemary's birthday, but our guess is that she spent it just like she has every day since joining COTA as a volunteer....thinking about the needs of COTA. Rosemary is one of our longest-term volunteers, which means that she has had COTA concerns on her mind for well over twenty years.
There isn't a job within our little nonprofit that Rosemary hasn't participated in. She has always done the "ABC's" of whatever Children of the Americas needed:

• Accounting.
• Begging for supplies.
• Caring for countless foster children.
• Doing all of the odd jobs nobody else wanted!
• Excel lists.
• Financing trips to Guatemala on her own dime.
• Going wherever, and whenever COTA needs her to.
• Hosting board members from out of town.
• Insisting that our board follow proper protocol.
• Juggling a full-time job with the demands of COTA.
• Keeping medical supplies in her house.
• Lifting boxes of medical donations when her doctor told her not to!
• Mediating (the many) issues on COTA team trips.
• Nudging donors to support our program.
• Orthotic and prosthetic patient care coordination.
• Pediatric surgical donation networking.
• Quotes the lowest price COTA can pay to save our donated dollars.
• Reprints forms that got soaked in Hurricane Sandy.
• Sending countless emails weekly for COTA.
• Travels to Guatemala at least twice a year.
• Understanding logistics of running an international nonprofit.
• Volunteers endless hours.
• Warehouse gleaning of supplies from other nonprofit organizations.
• X-tra understanding of those board members who occasionally falter with their energy.
• Yearlong devotee of anything concerning COTA.
• Zest for all things related to the concerns of the women and children of Guatemala.

It is not an understatement to say that Children of the Americas has continued to be a vital, life-changing organization thanks to Rosemary's dedication, intelligence and enthusiasm.
Happy Birthday Rosemary!