The Board of Finance is proposing a 2019 budget with a deficit of $8,095 which includes giving our five key employees cost of living increases in support of their continued good ministries among us.  The budget does not include the completion of the spire construction project to be done in the summer.  That project will, upon approval, be paid for from the Firm Foundation (an amount, coincidentally, that was not used in last year’s heating plant project).

This past year, pledging to the church was consistent, finishing between $136,000 to $139,000, almost $6,000 less than what we’d projected in our budget.  We are proposing a pledge amount for 2019 of $140,000, which hopefully is realistic.  We have had a yearly anonymous donation of $5,000 from someone who is no longer living in the area.  It is not carried in the 2019 budget.  Each year our income is projected from results of our pledge drive in the fall.  Thank you to all who participated.  It makes our job easier to do and the results more accurate.  All of this is to say that the Board of Finance could not do their job without you being committed financially to this church. Thank you.

The church held four fundraisers in 2018, which included a new silent auction, the Strawberry Supper, the Tag Sale, and the Apple Pie sales in Williston.  Our income from those fundraisers met our budgeted goal of $9,000.  We feel that part of job is to schedule fundraisers that are good for the community, bring us some additional income, but do not burn us out.    This year we are organizing a silent auction/strawberry supper combination on June 28th, the tag sale and the Pie sale.  We have budgeted $9,000 gross as the goal for these fundraisers.

All offerings from the church Christmas Services were donated to the Good Neighbor Fund (approximately $2,000) which is another way the church impacts our community.

Thank you for your continued support to this church

Respectfully Submitted,

Charles Grenier