

	Dear Hopeline Supporter, We at the Kristin Brooks Hope Center would like to wish you all the warmest greetings for the Holiday Season. This year has been an amazing year for the Hope Center! James Earl Jones volunteers for the Hopeline James Earl Jones, the voice of a generation, recorded our newest PSAs which we launched with our partners at To Write Love on Her Arms. It can be viewed on our revamped web site . Three members of Congress and a Beatles song October 20 th we held our 5th Annual Capitol Hill Press event calling for the full funding of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act. The Act supports most of the college suicide prevention programs. Rep. Patrick Kennedy gave his finest speech ever! He stated that relapse is a part of recovery for people with mental health issues, and just like someone with cancer in remission we know all too well - it can reappear. You can view the press conference in its entirety at www.hopeline.com as well. Ironically, as the Congressman was giving the speech, the lead singer for Blue October, Justin Furstenfeld who was to be speaking at the same press conference had a relapse and had checked into a mental health facility. The tour was cancelled but Justin got the help he needed and is back home. He actually did two concerts for us last weekend in Austin, TX. You can view Justin talking about the Pick Up The Phone tour here. Revamped website You can now see all our programs, hotlines and more on one site! Hopeline How the financial crisis affected us Due to the economic state of our country our call volume has increased by over 30%. And our donations conversely for the year are down 47%. We understand how hard it is during these tough economic times. One of our most steady supporters Chris Bergeron was laid off from his job but still sent 10% of his unemployment check, and 10% of his severance check. This is an amazing effort which we want to recognize. I'M ALIVE! This is the time for our greatest supporters (you) to stand with us during these tough times and help us do the work we have done for more than eleven years. We need you. Instead of reducing our efforts to help save lives we are actually proud to announce our newest program which, I predict, will dwarf 1-800-SUICIDE in both size and impact! On January 1st we will launch the I'M Alive program at www.suicide.net It is the world's first virtual crisis center and will employ thousands of volunteers at crisis centers all over the world to provide online support 24 hours a day. The training course which is now available online will be used to help volunteers get trained in the remote areas that have no crisis center. This is a revolution in crisis center work! Help us make this new service a reality and the strongest it can be. Sincerely, H. Reese Butler II Founder and President reese@hopeline.com