October 2006

When Jane Grady and later when Norris Ogard died, both their families wanted to honor them and their dedication to Children's Christian Education by establishing a Memorial Fund designated to the establishment of a Children's Library. The Christian Education Committee took on the task of establishing just such a library at St. Theodore's. Mary Jane Cole was appointed head of this sub-committee. After considerable research and planning, Mary Jane brought first to the Christian Education Committee and later to the Vestry a vision and a plan on how to make the hopes and dreams of the Grady and Ogard families a reality.

It also became apparent that there needed to be another sub-committee called the Library Books Committee, and Marianne Farner was appointed Chairman. That committee has also been hard at work looking for appropriate books for both the children and their parents or grandparents for our additional library.

I am pleased to announce that we have sufficient money to begin the project. Your Vestry has reviewed the plans and has contracted with several people to begin the construction of the library in Pengelly Hall. We will also need to paint Pengelly Hall and lay down new carpet.

The books for the library are arriving daily and will be ready to place on the shelves as soon as the construction has been completed. How you can continue to be part of this project is in an article in this edition of The Messenger.

This of course is not the only project we have recently completed from funds generated by a person's vision and their designation of special funds to complete his or her dream. The choir is now wearing new vestments because of the hopes and dreams of David Evans.

But, you don't have to die and have special memorials donated in your name to realize some dream or vision you have that will enhance our community life together. You can designate special financial blessings you have received in Thanksgiving for our church or in Thanksgiving for a special event in your life. We are also hard at work establishing an escrow account designated for maintenance and repairs such as the new roof we will need in the near future. We are also working on establishing an endowment fund. All of these funds free up the Vestry to use our operating budget in more creative and mission minded ways rather than just trying to pay the bills. Survival forced thinking is not good stewardship and inhibits healthy spiritual growth. All our giving to our church must be grounded in giving from our hearts in grateful thanksgiving for the blessings God rains down upon us day by day.

In a few weeks we will begin our Fall Pledge Campaign. We will be asking you to give sacrificially from your financial resources for our Operating Budget. That is a separate type of giving. Both are vital aspects of our thanksgivings to our loving God.

 

Fr. Ken