From EOD: December 3, 2021
Greetings everyone,
As the holidays fast approach, I hope you and your family are well and navigating the many challenges we face each day. There has been much loss in our congregation, family and friends. May we all find peace and strength in the midst of change and heartbreak.
Your staff continues to brings the best possible service to you, our members and friends. We are in the midst currently of planning the 2022/23 Pledge Drive. Jim Strickler and Raphael Fernandez are this year’s co-chairs. We have met as a team and are continuing to add members to the team to get this important effort launched in February.
Today you will be receiving an email from Finance@ucevanston.org. Your fiscal year 2021/22 pledge statement and capital campaign statement will be included in this email. If you find that our information does not match yours, please contact Vickie Doebele, Staff Accountant in the paragraph or call 847-864-1330 x 109 and discuss with Vickie. Our hope is that members and pledging friends can respond with payments toward outstanding pledges as we approach December 31st. Thank you for your generosity and continued support of UCE and the many programs and activities that move us closer to accomplishing our mission of “Nurturing the Human Spirit for a World Made Whole”.
Your church finances continued to be managed well and Integrated Stewardship Council meets every second Thursday at 6 p.m. So far, this fiscal year we are holding our own. Expenses are monitored carefully by your EOD and Tom Carlton, Treasurer is doing an excellent job of working with our Staff Accountant Vickie Doebele to keep the books in good order. Per our by-laws we will be conducting an official “Financial Review” by an outside accounting firm by the name of ECS Financial Services. This work will be done in early January after the Audit Task Force agreed upon to hire this firm. Thank you to Vickie Doebele for juggling the many bookkeeping responsibilities she handles. In addition to our operating fund Vickie is a volunteer bookkeeper for the Capital Campaign and serves on the REALM Database Team with Rev. Susan Frances, Jessica Meis and Adam Gough. Thank you to all of you and to Tom Carlton.
The Budget Working Group of the Integrated Stewardship Council has met and will meet again today to review a second pass at the proposed budget for 2022/23 fiscal year. Next year will be a challenging year as we will not have the benefit of the PPP that helped us through the pandemic. Pledges and contributions will be all the more essential as we move forward to next year. Team members are Tom Carlton, Treasurer; Susan Comstock, Immediate Past Treasurer and ISC Member at Large; Joe Romeo, Board Chair, Rev. Eileen Wiviott and myself. Once our preliminary budget is established it will be presented to the ISC and then to the Board of Trustees. A final version will be voted on in April in preparation for the May Annual Meeting.
Next week our Lobby Refurbishment Team meets with two woodworkers who will provide quotes on our new “Welcome Center”. This project has been long in the making, but we believe you will be pleased with the outcome once complete. This will be a welcoming piece that provides a focal point for those entering our church to meet with our membership team representatives, sign in and get more information as needed. A computer will be located at that station where one can sign into REALM. Storage of membership materials and a brochure rack will be integrated into this piece of furniture.
The hallway bulletin boards and monitors are a big improvement toward getting the message out about who we are, what we are about, and how one can get involved in programs or activities. If you have not taken a moment to stop and check these out, please do.
The Sanctuary Cooling Team continues to meet weekly and do the work of getting air conditioning installed before summer. We have two contractors we are working with after much research over the past year and a half. Greg Grabowski, Michael Drennan and I are using a matrix designed to help us organize the information we have gleaned. Currently we are very close to being on track per the timeline we established and shared with the Board of Trustees.
The Intergenerational Playscape Garden has held up well. We lost only a few minor plants which will be replaced in spring. Our littles love the berm where they climb, run and play. If you have not yet checked out the mosaics in the hopscotch area or leading to the labyrinth and next to the ramp, please do so. Families, parents, children and a few of us staff had a wonderful time together making these mosaics with Artist Indira Johnson. Indira came this week to do a final step of protective coating.
We are looking forward to the spring when we can add furniture pieces, the fountain (or sculpture) and the fairy houses in the wooded area. Stay tuned for more information.
Rentals continue to return to UCE, of course, following our UCE COVID Guidelines. This is an important revenue stream for us as well as providing a welcoming environment for those from outside our doors to utilize our space.
Staff will be sending a communication out soon to all of you who helped with our annual Rummage Sale and last year’s pop-up sale. We have some preliminary ideas for how we can make this year’s budgeted event successful. If you are interested in being involved in any way, big or small, please let me know.
Please feel free to contact me with questions, ideas or concerns you may have that relate to the building/grounds, events, rentals, or finance: Srobinson@ucevanston.org or 847-864-1330 x 108
Sandra Robinson, EOD