Last week, the Jamaica Gleaner ran an article about YOU’s financial difficulties. Aside from an unfortunate headline that suggested that we will be shutting down immediately (despite information to the contrary in the story), there has been quite a lot of feedback. It has been mostly positive, except for some individuals who attack NGOs as always asking for handouts. And yesterday, I received an email from a Mr. Early Witter, who heads the Office of the Public Defender. He wanted to meet with us today. So we ventured down to the waterfront office. It is located in an ancient building that used to be a hotel. At first, we were greeted by an older fellow who was not Mr. Witter. He understood that we would like to file a complaint with the Office of the Public Defender. At first, we thought there had been a misunderstanding, but it turns out Mr. Witter likes to have a record of every meeting. So we told this fellow about YOU and our financial challenges. He painstakingly took notes by hand, in cursive writing, apologizing for his slow pace. “I’m not as agile as I used to be,” he told us. Then Mr. Witter arrived and we met with him for about 20 minutes. He questioned us about YOU and why our funding stopped without explanation. He made it clear that he does not want us to shut down and explained a little bit of background as to why he will not immediately ruffle feathers (politics, of course). Then, he got on the phone to a colleague from the Office of the Children’s Advocate, right in front of us. “I know I can always lean on you for help,” he told the person on the other end of the phone, “and that is never more than now.” Taking a step back, Mr. Witter is an old-school lawyer, a gentleman with perfect diction and a pocket square. He reminded me of James Earl Jones. Then, all of a sudden, we were bidding him goodbye and we were off to an impromptu meeting with the Office of the Children’s Advocate. Another old-school gentleman, Justice Downer met with us for a short while, asking us bluntly what we wanted him to do to help. He was perplexed by the fact that our funding envelope has run out. But he promised to write a letter to the Minister of National Security on our behalf, as we told him that the most helpful thing he could do was to advocate for us and for the NGO community in general. It was a whirlwind of a day, especially since we had no idea to expect going into the meeting. And we still don’t know what to expect as Aug. 31 approaches.