by Moira Rouse & David Schowalter, UUCW Stewardship Team

As of this writing, we have raised $206,241 in combined pledges and Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD) for the 2024-25 church year.  This represents 91.3% of our goal of $226,000. 

Many of you increased your pledge amount over last year and several new households pledged for the first time.  On average, your responses were very prompt, making this year much easier on your Stewardship Team.  We thank you all for your contributions and your thoughtfulness!

We estimate that as April comes to an end we may secure another $3,500 in commitments toward next year with our final outreach and follow-up work.  This will put us about even with what we achieved last year, which is good, though not what we needed.  New and increased pledges were unfortunately offset by some significant pledge reductions, mostly due to changes in circumstance.

At the end of the great classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” things are looking up for George Bailey and his Building and Loan business because community members came to his aid with donations in return for all he had done for them.  It’s important to remember, though, that even with the immediate crisis of his debt to Potter averted, Bailey’s hard work was not over.  He still had a business to run with slim profit margins and no guarantee the same kind of predicament could be averted down the road.  And so it is with our own Wonderful Church.  Thanks to your responsiveness and support, we can move forward with another church year.  But there is work ahead as we figure out how to sustain our community on less than was needed. It will take all of our hands, heads and resources to persevere, and we look forward to every minute of sharing that journey!

As always, if you haven’t pledged, please do so right away at this link.

Sincerely,

The Stewardship Team

Moira Rouse

Dave Schowalter