Prosperity
Key Figures from FY2024
Our Mission
Ending poverty through life-changing relationships with neighbors and God
Neighbors and Friends,
I’ll start my year in review with gratitude for all of you, our Festa supporters, donors and friends. Thank you for helping Festa continue our mission to positively impact our community.
2024 saw the opening of our second 3-Generation Family ESL program where we nearly doubled the number of families we served. We formalized our strategic plan including fundraising and impact goals. Our plan is ambitious; multiplying our impact by ten times over the next three years.
Unfortunately, 2024 was a financially challenging year and we continue to focus on fundraising for our plans in 2025 to open additional 3-generation ESL programs throughout Columbus and further into the state of Ohio. We will continue to deliver our programs through your generosity and commitment changing lives, making dreams possible, elevating families from poverty and strengthening our city’s future.
At Festa, serving children, families and our community is what we do; it’s what continues to inspire us in every new phase. We are poised for significant growth this upcoming year and reflecting on our journey highlights the impact of our commitment to invent and apply non-traditional solutions to the systemic challenges of poverty.
Since 2007, Festa has provided support for children in need in one local suburban community, securing free lunches for school aged children during the summer months. Parents asked, with their children translating, for help with children’s homework and English. We listened to our neighbors! Festa added homework help, adult English classes and preschool programming.
We invented our nationally recognized 3-Generation Family ESL program and remain synergistic with our mission of lifting children out of poverty by:
• Removing barriers to employment for parents by improving their English language skills.
• Providing developmental enrichment for children: early literacy, homework help, leadership and entrepreneurial training.
• Rallying a community of support to surround each member of the family.
Our growth has been steady and driven by the needs of the community. We have met and exceeded significant milestones in our development as a not for profit organization and in 2025 we have even bigger ambitions.
We believe in the framework we have developed across three essential growth criteria:
• The need is great: waiting lists for Festa’s adult ESL classes remain long. The immigrant population in Central Ohio is growing.
• Columbus, Ohio is the fastest growing city in the US
• 50% percent of population growth since 2010 is from migration; 50% of whom are coming from outside the USA (MORPC). Our current and future workforce will be made up of many immigrants.
• Only 4% of foreign-born people in Central Ohio can find an ESL class.
• Funders and partnerships allow us to grow:
• Since 2009 we have met or exceeded all fundraising goals.
• Existing and new strategic partnerships allow us to decrease program expenses.
• Local churches offer Festa their buildings for free to run our programs, lowering our expenses dramatically. Five new buildings in Columbus communities are available to us NOW!
Please enjoy reviewing our success and contribute as you are able, investing your time and your treasure during these times of uncertainty. In a season of widespread loneliness, seek joy through connection and friendship with people across lines of difference! Join Festa and be empowered to make a positive impact where you live. On behalf of the entire Festa community, thank you for your support and belief in our mission.
Most sincerely,
Kim Emch Founder and Executive Director, Festa
Testimonial =Joyce and ,Asma
“Learning English has allowed me to get a job with Festa in the children’s program. For my family, Festa is a dream come true.”
— Asma
Volunteering with Festa has enlightened my life. You live in a middle class society and you just go along every day doing the same things: you go to work, come home, eat dinner, and you don’t realize how hard some people struggle and how resilient they can be.
Ten years ago, after I retired, I started volunteering as an assistant in Festa’s beginner level adult English class. I became very dear friends with Asma, a student from my class. Everybody knows her. She and her children come to my house, and the relationships are wonderful. She’s just a wonderful person. She and her husband work so hard and their children are full of fun and energy! They’re family; we hug and share family stories. She tells me I am like a mother to her. She’s a wonderful cook; she calls me to say that she has cooked and I need to come for a meal.
I’m Jewish and she is Palestinian. When I’m at her house, she will FaceTime her sisters in Jordan and Chicago. She’ll put me on the phone and tell them that I’m her friend. She’ll say, ‘She’s Jewish, and she’s good.’ She tells me that she has begun having conversations with her other friends: ‘There’s good here and there’s bad here. Just because somebody is from a certain religion doesn’t mean that they’re bad.’ Festa’s focus on bringing people together from around the world to build relationships and learn to respect each other’s beliefs is what truly makes this a phenomenal program. I come from a Jewish background, I volunteer with a Christian faith-based organization, and I work largely with Muslim people!
— Joyce
Festa Summer Lunch Camp
+ Adult ESL
“My children had a very safe and healthy place to spend the summer break without being bored and costing us any money.
Thank you for being a blessing to the community.”
A Volunteer’s Story
Amar grew up as the child of immigrant parents who started a small business in the U.S. His experiences helping with the family business and attending Festa’s Free Summer Lunch Camp shaped who he is today. “I loved summer camp,” Amar recalls. “I went every summer until 8th grade and then became a teen intern as a high schooler.” Now in college studying biomedical engineering on track to attend medical school, Amar has returned to Festa as an adult volunteer. “I’ve seen almost every perspective of the camp: first as a camper, then a teen intern and now as a volunteer. The friendships I built keep me coming back.”
One memorable moment involved encouraging a child to try their vegetables at lunch, a lesson from his own upbringing. “I used something my parents taught me to help him.”
Amar believes Festa is paving the way to more diverse communities. “Diversity is key, and Festa is breaking barriers and bringing the community closer. As a volunteer, I feel like I am learning every day. I love learning about all the children. It doesn’t feel like a job!”
706 total children registered in camp
7,603 meals served to children
352 unique volunteers
61 special guest events
Parents chose to send their children to Summer Lunch Camp:
• So their children can learn and play in a fun/safe place
• To feel part of the community
• To help their family’s budget
• So their children receive a healthy lunch
3Generation
Hilliard & Dublin
1,216
total people registered in program
55 countries of origin
620
total volunteers
5,096 meals served to children
39 registrant zip codes
7,795
total volunteer hours
An ESL Teacher s Story ’
“Even before going into any of the class sessions, I knew my students would become my friends, not just learners. It is important to me to know each person individually because we are a team. I have learned just as much from them as they have from me. They are people from different circumstances with a lot on their plates. These individuals are driven to learn, support their families and contribute to society like anyone else. My students tell me that people out in the world usually do not speak with them. I began putting myself in their shoes, and found myself being more sensitive to other people of other cultures. It made me more aware of the people around me and how I treat them.
“I have always believed that showing love for God means helping those around me. Through this opportunity with Festa, my view on what community is has been thoroughly broadened. I have come to realize now, more than ever, that we are all one race. We are all made in one image.”
Are you interested in being a teacher?
Connecting Families to Resources Program Update
“My family and I will always be very grateful to the Festa organization for the huge help and the attention they have given us. As immigrants, we arrived in this country with nothing but dreams of progressing and providing our children with lives much better than they could have had in our home country. The Festa team has helped us get clothes, meals and other things we needed, and most importantly big smiles and a lot of love and care. I ask God to bless each of the members of this great family that is Festa so they can continue the great work that they are doing.”
We serve as a vital link connecting families with needs to a host of community services. Our goal is to help families maintain stability and stay in their homes. We work with church and community partners who assist families with rent and utility bills through their benevolence funds. We continue to maintain the Hilliard Helps website, listing free and low cost programs and services offered in the Hilliard School District community.
GoodChristmasTidings Store
275 families shopped for
849 children
1,339 gifts donated and given 102 unique volunteers
Important Update
In the early days, Festa heard from parents who felt disempowered by toy programs where strangers delivered gifts to their doorstep. Inspired by a model where parents could select, wrap and pay a small fee for toys, we partnered with a local woman to offer this dignified experience. In 2013, Cornerstone Christian Fellowship joined us, and the Good Tidings Christmas and Coat Store was born. Despite challenges, including a pandemic, we remained committed to in-person shopping and relationship-building.
After ten wonderful years, we are wrapping up the Good Tidings program to focus on what families need most—year-round, 3-Generation Family ESL programs. By improving parents’ English skills, offering developmental support for children, and surrounding families with a strong community, we aim to help them move from surviving to thriving. Other nonprofits now offer holiday toy programs, ensuring families are cared for. We are deeply grateful to Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, our donors, and volunteers for the memories and impact over the past decade.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
Excelerate + Business Teachers Program
A family who had emigrated from Algeria just ten months ago learned about Festa Summer Lunch Camp through Riverview International Center. The father enrolled in Festa’s Summer Adult ESL class, and the oldest two children joined camp. On opening day for the children’s restaurant, Mom and the youngest child came to enjoy a meal with us. She repeated several times, “We are so happy to be here.” At the end of the day, she thanked our staff, sharing that she was so proud to see her children excited about working at the restaurant and she was relieved to see they were already making friends. She told us, “This support means a lot to our family.”
It was the end of a busy children’s restaurant day. The kitchen was almost clean and most of the children had gone on to play a game. The floor needed mopping and we planned to have staff do it after camp. An 8th grade camper volunteered to mop, and he did a great job cleaning the entire floor of the large lunchroom. When he was finished, a staff member went to hand him some prize vault tickets to reward his work, but he refused them. He said, “My reward is helping out.”
14 restaurant kitchen volunteers
9 excelerate business teachers
550 restaurant guests
Volunteers of the Year Award Honorees
Miriam McGrath
John C. Witherspoon Volunteer of the Year
As a volunteer ESL teacher, Miriam goes above and beyond, offering instruction and engaging activities while also organizing celebrations for her students, including baby showers and citizenship celebrations. She has also provided individual tutoring and assisted students who could no longer attend class due to challenging circumstances by supplying materials and support for studying at home, enabling them to graduate the course. Her commitment to building a family within her classroom exemplifies her passion for empowering our New American neighbors. Miriam reflects, “Festa allowed me the opportunity to realize my ability to teach English to adult students, and God has given me the strength to do so. Through this opportunity with Festa, my view on what a community is has thoroughly broadened. I have come to realize now, more than ever, that we are all made in one image.”
Over 1,000 hours of service since 2015
Rae Liu
Greyson N. Estep Youth Volunteer Award
Rae is truly a “ray” of sunshine! Always beaming with enthusiasm, she is ready to jump in wherever needed. Throughout her time as a teen intern, Rae has led activities, served dinner, held babies, helped with restaurant prep, and so much more. Her exceptional care for the children sets her apart, going above and beyond the commitment one would expect from a high school student. Rae volunteered almost every day at summer camp and many nights at ESL this year. The children adore her, and she instinctively knows what to do without needing direction, showcasing her natural leadership abilities. Everyone who knows her loves having Rae as part of our Festa family.
177 volunteer hours as a teen volunteer
GREYSON N. ESTEP
Greyson Estep began volunteering as a young child in 2009 with his mother and older brother. He came every day to Summer Lunch Camp year after year. Greyson passed away in February 2023. As parents, we may think we are bringing our children with us, but sometimes we are simply the vehicle for our children to get where they are meant to go. This was the case with Greyson; he LOVED serving with Festa. He made it his mission to make friends, play and take on responsibilities to help run camp - serving lunches, cleaning up, setting out hula hoops and activity supplies to make camp fun for all. He was even given his very own green t-shirt traditionally reserved for adult staff members that he wore proudly! Greyson was well known throughout his life for caring deeply about and advocating for marginalized people, and he loved music in every form.
In Memoriam
JOHN C. WITHERSPOON
John Witherspoon was a long-time resident of UA and member of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, retired CEO of ABB and Festa’s first volunteer. He passed away in May 2019. When Kim was introduced to John and told him about the mission of service God had given her, he famously said, “You had me at ‘hungry children.’ What do you need me to do?!” John was also our first board member. Kim considers him a “cherished friend and mentor, and a special person God gave to me as a father figure. I don’t think I ever would’ve had the courage to move forward with all of this had it not been for John. We laughed, cried and served God arm in arm. I learned so many things from him - everything from how to take the door off a refrigerator to how to ask boldly!”
John served with us for the first 10 years, and his legacy and influence will always be with Festa.
September 28, 2024
1,205 tickets sold
110 volunteers
$73,000 raised
51 countries represented
Scan to watch our Festa-val recap video
After struggling to communicate with employees who spoke limited English, Kimball Midwest hired Festa to launch our first Business ESL program. For the past year, Festa provided English classes for speakers of other languages and Spanish classes for the English-speaking managers at no cost to the employees, helping to bridge the communication gap and build a stronger community in their workplace.
28
employees learned English
9
employees learned Spanish
97%
employment retention rate for this group of employees
Training Social Enterprise
As we aim for our big goal of opening 20 locations of 3-Generation Family ESL in Central Ohio, Festa's social enterprise—training and consulting other organizations to run this program—is the vehicle driving us forward. This model equips local churches, nonprofits and community groups to serve their neighbors while generating revenue to support Festa’s mission.
With 17 years of experience serving New Americans and families facing poverty in the suburbs, Festa has developed a proven, scalable model. We’ve spent years documenting our work and have successfully taught 17 communities to run free summer lunch camps, addressing the issue of summer hunger.
Festa’s social enterprise offers coaching packages for one-on-one guidance and consulting services to help communities either expand current initiatives or launch new programs. From poverty simulations that offer hands-on insight into the challenges of poverty to tailored consulting for creating family ESL programs, our social enterprise creates both impact and sustainability.
In 2024, the city of Springfield, Ohio, hired Festa to teach 14 churches and a nonprofit to run our nationally recognized ESL model with the goal of serving their growing Haitian refugee population. Our social enterprise model is building lasting change, one community at a time.
For more information and pricing, contact info@wearefesta.org
TOTAL EXPENSES
TOTAL INCOME
Thank you to
Our Partners
ADAMH
Hexion
AEP Foundation Hilliard Church of Christ
Battle Motors
Hilliard City Schools
Bethel International United Methodist Honda USA Foundation
Big Lots Foundation Hous Foundation
BMW Financial Services
Indian Run United Methodist Church
The Bridge Ingram-White Castle Foundation
Cameron Mitchell Restaurants
JP Morgan Chase
City of Columbus Kimball Midwest
The Columbus Foundation Memorial Golf Tournament
Crane Group
Nationwide Foundation
Delaware Area Career Center (DACC) ODW Logistics
Destination Hilliard
Dollar General Literacy Foundation
Equity Construction Solutions
Ernst Concrete
Fyda Freightliner
Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church
Siemer Family Foundation
UA Rotary Foundation Fund
United Way of Central Ohio
Upper Arlington Lutheran Church
