Greetings from the Stewardship Team! Our focus this church year has been a concerted effort to build up multiple funds that can help the congregation’s finances to become more sustainable. We have had good success since our relaunch back in June and we wanted to share our progress with all of you.
I’m pleased to announce that through your help, an extra $5250 has been paid toward the principal of our mortgage. Paying down the principal of our mortgage helps to reduce the number of years that this significant expense will have to be allotted for in the budget, and reduce the total dollar amount that we will have to pay in interest overall. We have also been able to increase our Sustainability Fund (also known as the Fund for the Future) by $1800, helping ensure that an important cushion is available during times when unexpected expenses come up. Finally, the Endowment Committee has reached their initial goal of $15,000 for the WUUC endowment fund handled by the East Tennessee Foundation, an amount that will ensure that Westside can benefit from distributions from that fund as early as this church year and still expect the amount to increase.
We couldn’t have made this exciting progress without the generous outpouring from Westside’s members and friends. On behalf of all the members of the Stewardship Team, I thank you deeply and broadly, whether you’ve been able to make a one time donation, pledged to support these special funds on a monthly or quarterly basis, included Westside in your tax planning or estate planning, or contributed your time and energy into helping make special stewardship events and meals a success.
If you are encouraged by this momentum and want to know more about how you can help this garden grow, please seek out one of the Stewardship Team’s pamphlets located in the church lobby, or feel free to strike up a conversation with myself or another member of the Stewardship Team during coffee hour. We hope to have more stewardship events in the near future as we all work towards a brighter Westside, so stay tuned!
To donate to either our internally-managed or East Tennessee Foundation-managed Endowment Funds, please visit https://www.westsideuuc.org/donate and follow the simple instructions.
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