A Message From Andrea Logan Sanders
As 2025 comes to a close and I reflect on the highlights of the year, I’m excited to share with you some of the successes we’ve experienced in our Boys & Girls Aid community over the last 12 months.
This year marked our 140th anniversary, which we proudly celebrated all year long. The Foster Love Gala 140th anniversary celebration in May was a resounding success, and we had the honor of recognizing five recipients with the Irene H. Gerlinger Award for Philanthropy & Community Service at the event. Boys & Girls Aid families, adoptees, donors, and community partners joined us again in October to tour our 140th Anniversary Historical Exhibit, which was curated with artifacts from our personal archives. The exhibit was so well received that we have decided to keep select pieces on permanent display, available to view at our headquarters.
In November, Boys & Girls Aid welcomed Open Adoption & Family Services to our community through a merger of our programs. This merger reaffirms our commitment to infant adoption by expanding vital support to the pregnant individuals, adoptive families, and adoptees with whom we work in the space of open adoption and all-options counseling.
Over the course of the year, a record six new foster families were certified to provide caring, stable homes for the children in our foster care programs. The availability of foster homes is crucial in ensuring children get the care they need when they need it most, and I commend our Recruitment & Certification team for their hard work in making this possible.
Our Shelter & Housing programs in Washington County also made big strides in 2025. This year, 67 new residents were welcomed into our Housing Services programs. One of our board members was even able to help a resident in our Compass housing program through the process of buying her first car! At our Safe Place shelter in Hillsboro, 80% of the 173 youth we served this year exited into stable housing.
Finally, 2025 also marked a personal milestone as I celebrated my 20th anniversary with Boys & Girls Aid. The 140th Anniversary has given me a renewed sense of connection to the agency’s purpose and impact on our community. The compassion and innovation that defined the agency’s founding in 1885 continue to shape our services today, and I am deeply inspired to see these values in practice across our Boys & Girls Aid community.
I’d like to invite you to join me in celebrating Boys & Girls Aid’s legacy, and investing in its future, with a year-end gift. We’ve included information here to help you maximize both the charitable impact and year-end tax benefits of your contribution.
I wish you the happiest of holidays and all the best in the coming year.
Warmly,
Andrea Logan Sanders
President & CEO