Year Six in Review
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Today marks the sixth anniversary of The Culture Project. Words cannot express our gratitude to you, our faithful friends and supporters, who have journeyed with us through thick and thin. The world has become quite an uncertain place, yet even through this, you have carried us. This is because you and I both know how important this message is. We also know that our mission has never been to simply speak in classrooms, but to transform lives. We will do this with whatever means available to us, giving hope to young people where there is none.
This year, The Culture Project missionaries served five dioceses and gave 696 in-person presentations, encountering 35,670 persons. But that’s not all. We continued to serve through the lock-down. Through social media, we found ourselves in front of 29,931 people who we don’t often reach – including you! You joined us Live and watched our interviews; you commented, asked questions, shared insights, and encouraged our team. We are so grateful.
New Staff Training
Yes, we are still growing! We successfully hired eleven new missionaries for 2020-2021 who joined our 2019-2020 missionaries for New Staff Training for two weeks this June. Everyone gathered virtually for a spiritual retreat, mission orientation, and a robust support-raising seminar, all led by our support staff and the monastic community of St. Vincent Archabbey of Latrobe, PA. Training will resume in September with the experts, medical professionals, academics, religious, and more to form our team on the topics of human life and sexuality, equipping our missionaries to dialogue with your students on these critical topics.
This was also a time for goodbyes to Genesis, Malcolm, Sebastian, Kiki, Laura, Emily, Kari, Jesse, Sam, Koji, and Lucas, who make us so proud! We also welcomed a new class of missionaries! We’re excited for MacKenzi, Clare, Caroline, Danielle, Nick, Michelle, Alessandra, Peyton, Cameron, Robert, Alanis, and Sebastian to build up The Culture Project in new and impactful ways. We are ready to send 25 missionaries to your classrooms, both in-person and virtual.
A Year in Review
In the Fall of 2019, five (Arch)Bishops invited us to serve their dioceses. We spoke to students, parents, schools, parishes, on college campuses, and at national conferences.
- In Toledo, missionaries reached 5,037 individuals.
- In Los Angeles, missionaries reached 7,074 individuals.
- In Cleveland, missionaries reached 11,385 individuals.
- In San Francisco, missionaries reached 6,382 individuals.
- In Pittsburgh, missionaries reached 195 individuals, with a short season of January-March 2020!
- Several missionaries traveled nationally, reaching 5,597 individuals.
As the country’s activity slowed down, we became busier than ever:
- 97 times Live on Social Media
Twice daily for almost nine weeks, we hosted live videos on social media with talks from our missionaries, incredible guests, live podcasts, and book clubs. On Facebook alone, we were Live 85 times in 45 days! - 44 wonderful guests
Incredible people like Jason Evert, Leah Darrow, Sarah Swafford, Fr. Agustino Torres, CFR, and others shared their insights and passion with our friends and followers. - 20 Zoom talks for students
In all 5 Dioceses, missionaries spoke to students via video call. - 2 Highly Successful Days of Giving
Our Days of Giving raised $72,930. We dream of growing and expanding, and the generosity of you, our friends, means we’re one step closer. - 1 Fantastic, flexible team, coming together to transform culture.
In Christ,
Cristina M. Barba, President & CEO
