Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Marin Foundation! 2006 was a year of growth, commitment and realization for us as the Lord has put The Marin Foundation in places and situations that I never would have expected this soon. As an organization we feel so blessed and encouraged in looking forward to what the Lord continues to have in store for us in 2007. Through all of the ups and downs this past year, all of you who have been there for us are loved and appreciated more than you will ever know. Here is a tribute to everyone who made an impact in 2006:

Thank you Alden Vasquez for opening up your home for a wave of our classes for you and your brothers in Christ. Thank you Amanda Shallies for your enthusiasm and encouragements no matter what happens. Thank you Bill and Jodie Shields for being there for me for the past 12 years, you are as solid as they come. Thank you Bill Clevenger for your friendship and belief in this vision. Thank you Bill Shereos for your undying support as my pastor and friend. Thank you Bob Dybas for giving me a chance in your life; you have been so faithful as an integral part of The Marin Foundation. Thank you Brenda Stewart for being my everything, I love you.

Thank you Christian Community Development Association for giving me the blessed opportunity to speak at your national conference in Philly. Thank you Calvary Church Naperville and Randal Ross for the chance you took on believing in what the Lord has for us both. Thank you Calvary Memorial Church Oak Park and Andrew Irvin for giving me the opportunity to speak to your wonderful congregation. Thank you Chris and Katie Overgard for knowing the importance of being able to eat and have food, we will always be together. Thank you Cory Fransway for teaching me what it means to be true to yourself and who you are; you will always be important to me and what I believe.

Thank you Daniel Ward for your support through my academic training. Thank you David Cho for your passion and continual questions to know as much as you can. Thank you Dignity Chicago for being the only GLBT organization to have stood up for us when we were down and being kicked; you can never know what that meant to me and the entire Marin Foundation family. Thank you Donald and Mary Williams for your faithfulness in believing in us. Thank you Donald and Shirley Gurney for your love. Thank you Dzinasor for all of your professional website talents that have been bestowed upon us.

Thank you Epiphany Episcopal Church for opening your doors to us for our classes. Thank you Erika Noble for the weekly dinners and constant prayer. Thank you Erwin and Jean Christiansen for your example of what it means to be faithful to the Lord; I would not be who I am without you two.

Thank you Kevin and Diedre Bodine for giving all the love and support you can. Thank you Jean Marin for everything you mean to our family. Thank you Jen Ridder for your constant excitement. Thank you Jenny Bonas for your love to our family. Thank you John Fuder for continual encouragement and spreading the word about the foundation. Thank you John Watson for realizing the dream of what it means to build bridges. Thank you Josh Taylor for everything in being who you are; to you I am so grateful.

Thank you Justin Lee and Gay Christian Network for giving me the opportunity to be a part of your extraordinary network. Thank you June Schoder for your support and prayers.

Thank you Kate Hawley for writing an article that landed on the first page of the Reader. Thank you Lance and Karla Schrader for always being there for me to encourage and support our vision. Thank you Lawndale Christian Health Center HIV/AIDS Clinic for your enthusiastic receptiveness in learning how to, and living life as a bridge builder. Thank you Leonard and Genevieve Reimann for all of your smiles and love on Sundays in Naperville. Thank you Louise Classon for your donation of the numerous Bibles that are being given to those who do not have them.

Thank you Mark and Diane Overgard for loving me like your own. Thank you Mark and Nikki Shields for being my parents away from home in Chicago. Thank you Mark Noller for truly understanding what and why we are what we are. Thank you Mark Zueshow for being one of the first to let me in your church to get the message out. Thank you Michael and Carol Dalton for the pure joy, excitement and love you have brought me my entire life; family never quits. Thank you Michelangelo Signorile and Melissa Garvey for propelling The Marin Foundation into the national spotlight; what you used for bad God has used for good. Thank you Moody Church for hosting our Track #2 classes and stepping out to do something that not many others do. Thank you Moody Graduate School, to all of those who work there, know, love and support The Marin Foundation on a daily basis. Thank you Mosaic Initiative for believing when no other organization would.

Thank you Nancy Jacques for being who you are with your undying and relentless faith, prayer and encouragement. Thank you Nancy Heche for your calling and catching the national vision together with me. Thank you Nick Scarpino Design for the wonderful logo you created. Thank you Nikki Capra-Flader for your total honesty, always.

Thank you Pam Marin and Kevin Cook for opening your house and New York City to The Marin Foundation; your vision for our expansion has helped more than you might know. Thank you Pam Verdin for your years of prayer walking and intercession, paving the way for our foundation. Thank you Peter and Beth Marin for my life; I am who I am and can do what I do because of you. Thank you Phil Jackson for championing The Marin Foundation to the African American youth. Thank you Ric Grothe for being a true friend through thick and thin. Thank you Roy and Toni Horras for relentlessly believing and supporting. Thank you Sarah Pacchiarotti for spiritually seeing me through from my dedication until today. Thank you Scott Thomas for being the first to give me an opportunity to speak to the masses through radio. Thank you Sharon Beck for always supporting me and treating me like your own child. Thank you Sue and Glen Oland for having my family as your family.

Thank you Ted Curtis for being committed and believing since Day 1; you will always be the first to believe, and for that I thank you. Thank you Tim Wynveen for the fellowship and love you constantly provide. Thank you Tom Keefer for being a brother who has a dying passion to make a difference and see the evangelical community truly build a bridge with the GLBT community. Thank you Tom and Sally McElroy for your commitment and constant real participation in class.

Thank you Tony Didato for always thinking before you speak; I have never met a more truthful and real person in my life. Thank you to everyone at WMBI for giving me the opportunity to be heard across the country; you believed in us and did for us what no others could have done; thank you so much.

Thank you and God Bless,

Andrew Marin