Year in Review, 2015

PET-Austin had a great 2015. By the end of December we constructed 98 PET carts. We sent 9 carts to PET-Penney Farms to be included in a shipment to Sierra Leone. With the help of PET-San Antonio, PET- Brazos Valley, PET-Memphis and PET-Columbia we sent a container of 155 PET carts to Guinea Bissau. We also started a relationship with Mission of Hope Haiti and sent 2 PET carts with them in December.
From a donation standpoint, we started the year getting ready for the Amplify Austin Giving campaign. On the 'Day of Giving' we received over $9500.00. Bethany United Methodist Church participated in the eighth annual "Lenten Challenge" and the congregation donated the funds to build 40 PET carts, one for each day of Lent. With these and additional gifts and memorials, we received almost $50,000 into our operating budget and added almost $35,000 to our capital building fund.
Our volunteers at the PET-TyRex shop participated in the Round Rock 4th of July Parade and had a great time. We also were the featured charity at the Round Rock Express ball game on July 5th.
The real big event for us was hosting the Annual PET Conference. We would like to offer a big thank you to Bethany United Methodist Church for allowing us to utilize the church facility for this 3 day event in September. Over 75 people representing 15 of the 21 US PET shops, the PET-Zambia shop and many of our distribution partners were in attendance. The president of the National United Methodist Men's Organization was also present to report on their official partnership with PET-International.
Overall PET in general and PET-Austin specifically has been blessed and we are looking forward to an even greater 2016.