This Week from Mitch
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Just over two years ago, we completed the donor solicitation phase of our Building on the Legacy Capital Campaign. Led by Neil Rashley, this campaign was extremely successful. We raised $2.2 million in pledges. Little did we know how much life would change in the months following our celebration dinner. And yet, despite the craziness of the past two years, the Capital Campaign has continued to do well. Thank you for your commitment to keeping your pledges.
Here are few updates:
The mortgage continues to be paid at an accelerated rate. In fact, our church should be debt-free by the end of next year! This is a wonderful milestone that I look forward to celebrating with you.
During the Capital Campaign, it was expressed over and over that the church needed a comfortable space for families to gather before funerals, weddings, baptisms, and other special ceremonies. Patsy Farr, Jane Fancher, Martha Beckman and many others have worked hard to remodel our former library in the Parish Office into such a space. Our new parlor is on its way to becoming more comfortable, elegant, and usable. Plan to stop by and see it in the next few weeks, when work should be complete.
During the Capital Campaign, the need for our church to be more compliant with the American with Disabilities Act was brought up at every single listening session and meeting. Uneven surfaces, hard-to-open doors, dangerous wheelchair ramps, and many other issues were pointed out to us. We are running electricity to doors, adding door actuators, and handicapped access buttons around the campus. Most importantly, we have hired Grimbal-Cotterill and Associates to design improvements to our plaza entrance area. This will include fixing drainage issues that have caused uneven dangerous surfaces and damage to our Clemson Avenue side of the Memorial Garden. We have asked our designers to help us create a space that is usable, beautiful, and SAFE. This is very much needed and I am excited to report that work is moving forward.
We have been able to do these things because of your pledges to the Capital Campaign and your commitment to keeping them current. Please continue giving to our Capital Campaign. Please also know that the main charge given to our Capital Campaign committee was to honor your goals hopes, and dreams for our space. Soon, because of your commitments, we will be debt-free, and our physical space will be much, much safer. If you would like to pledge to our Capital Campaign, please consider doing so during our upcoming stewardship drive. If you would like to know more about the projects, please feel free to reach out, and if you have pledged, thank you for honoring and continuing to honor your commitment.
In Christ,
Mitch+
