As might be expected, much of the committee's work this year has been focused on preparing a financial plan to deal with the roof construction project. After assessing the potential financial resources that could be expected from the congregation, we recommended that the church negotiate a loan of $70,000, over 25 years. This was based on the estimated cost of $135,000 for the project and $65,000 that was projected to be available in the Roof Fund. This recommendation was approved by the Church Council and a loan was subsequently arranged through the United Methodist Foundation of New England. Monthly payments for this loan are compatible with the amounts that we are receiving through our members' 'second mile' giving to the Roof Fund. Payments of $609 per month against this loan began with construction in the month of August. A bit of good news was that we actually had raised $70,000 in the Roof Fund, which gives us an extra $5,000 for possible contingencies.
So far this year we have stayed on our financial plan and are thankful for that. We had an unexpected failure in the church water heater and incurred an expense of $2,500 for replacement and routing of the hot water system to the kitchen. This was work that we were expecting to do in 2009. Fortunately, we were able to absorb this cost into the financial plan.
We have been working smoothly with the finance folks at Wesley UMC, our sister church in East Hartford, in handling shared expenses. This year's experience with these costs will help us to more realistically budget for them in 2009.
Our members continue to keep their pledges for the conference 5-year "Together for Tomorrow" campaign up-to-date and we have received a total of $1,370 in refunds so far.
Many of our members may not be aware that we provide space for 5 recovery groups, who meet weekly and provide a nominal $3,000 each year in voluntary contributions. Until recently, we also hosted the Flute Institute, which contributed an additional $70 per month. They have since moved to another location.
Plans for the Fall stewardship campaign have been completed and the plan will be put into effect in October. Our focus continues to be on helping persons to improve their relationship to God through the pledging process, rather than focusing on budget needs. For 15 years, God has provided for our needs through this process and we have never been in financial crisis. We are sure that many people, indeed, have been drawn closer to their God and can testify to the blessings that God showers on those who honor Him in this way. We continue to be blessed by the outstanding support of our pledgers, who've consistently maintained a level near 100% throughout this year. That support is crucial to our ability to stay on track with the work of the church.
My continuing thanks to those special people on the Finance Committee who work so diligently to make my job as chairperson so easy. This includes Phyllis Goehring, our Treasurer; Karla Ebrahimzadeh, our Financial Secretary; Bob Mattern, our Auditor; and all of those special people who are part of our Sunday morning offering counting crew. My thanks, also, to Kathy Jo Winters, for her on-going coordination of so many successful Apple Festivals and to Lempi Hannaford and her supper crew, who provide public suppers that are the envy of the area!
We look forward to a successful Fall Stewardship program and to serving the Stewardship needs of our church in the year 2009. We expect that God will be with us and we're sure that our church family will pull together with us as we move into this new year.
David C. Howe
Chair
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