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VO L . X X I V N O. X V I I § 2 A U G U S T 6 , 2 0 1 8 6 F I L E P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S Ruth Libby Executive director and founder / Ruth's Reusable Resources What's changed: e number of students needing even the most basic school supplies has increased, espe- cially in the past three years. Product donations have increased to a point where our little staff can't keep up and our warehouse is crammed full. More product donations also means we need more volunteers. Ten years ago we had around 500 volunteers in a year and now we average ,500. We have a waiting list for orga- nizations wanting to bring special-needs adults to volunteer and high schools wanting to bring students to learn life skills. Just about every week there is at least one business group volunteering, if not two or three. Unfortunately, the one thing that hasn't changed is lack of funding. We have no funds for marketing or PR, so it is hard for us to fi nd grants and sponsorships. More than anything, I have changed. I know I have grown so much spiritually, emotionally, and have become a little wiser. What's ahead: July starts our 25th school year, which is so crazy. We are going to begin a fi ve-year campaign to raise the funds that we need to keep R's going for another 25 years. We have four buckets on our list to fulfi ll, including 1. Moving the public store off site and enlarging it with memberships for artists, daycares, homeschool families, crafters and more. 2. Maintaining and upgrading the building. . Renovating a school bus into a mobile teacher store for member schools located two or more hours away. . Building R's staff capacity and increasing awareness of what we do. No teacher left behind! Advice: Be true in what you choose to do and for the right reasons. Remember that no one is perfect, not even you. Times will get tough, but so will you. Love what you do from your heart no matter if it's for-profi t or nonprofi t. F I L E P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S Wendy Newmeyer Founder, president and CEO / Maine Balsam Fir Products What's changed: e business has continued to perform as well as we can handle. We have about 10 motor coaches a year now that stop in for a tour and a hands-on project if they like. It is a fairly lucrative sideline, one we never even thought about until I had a conversation with a tour director. What's ahead: We are grooming the business to sell it, to the right buyer at the right time. at could be any time. Jack is 69 and I am 6. We have done this to the best of our abilities for 5 years and still have some other ideas of how we would like to spend out golden years. We have plans to build a couple of homes here on our acreage, one to live in and at least one rental. » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E