Here is a summer update from our parish Wardens and from our parish Treasurer.
Dear Friends in Christ,
Here we are approaching summer vacation even though it feels like we just celebrated Advent and Lent.
We are so thankful for the leadership of Rob and all the staff members. Even though the COVID Pandemic has been officially declared over by the World Health Organization and restrictions are lifted, everyone is still feeling the effects of this turbulent time. The world has changed and some of us are comfortable with that and some of us don’t like the change. It truly is a difficult time for most.
We want to assure you that we and the staff are doing our best to bring the best of St. Mark’s forward. There are several volunteers putting in hours of time to make programs updated, exciting and to revitalize them. But here’s where we could use your help. Could you look at your personal schedule and interests and see if there is a place/need for you at St. Mark’s? We could sure use your help in many areas of our ministry. If you find yourself available, please speak to Rob or Christine Fournier to see where you might bring some light to others. Thank you for your consideration.
As you are all aware and no one likes to talk about, we are in a deficit budget this year. We have a Generosity Team working on this trying to find some solutions to help with this shortfall. However, if we want our programs to continue at St. Mark’s we need to watch our spending at all costs. The Wardens and the Finance Committee are on top of that but the last thing we want to do is reduce spending any further and perhaps cut further positions in staff. We want to remind you that our budget stays the same throughout the summer and we encourage you to continue your weekly offerings.
We encourage you to stay optimistic as we do and we look forward to some restful time this summer and an exciting start to our new church year in September.
Faithfully,
Sharon, Cindy, Ralph & Vicki
Wardens of St. Mark’s
Financial Update
At the Vestry meeting in February a budget was passed that asked for an increase in giving over last year of 5%. As of the end of May we are close to that. We are $1,164.47 short of the target. Our operating expenses are over budget by $3,277.42 due to increases in Wages, Guest Clergy and Chancel Supplies. Our Operating deficit is $24,927.73 but we have raised $4,355.27 through fundraising to partially offset the deficit. We have withdrawn $22,489.81 from the Operating Trust and have borrowed $10,300.00 from the Diocese which we are paying back over the balance of the year. Currently the balance of the loan is $8,042.16.
Although we are currently in better shape than the Budget projected at this time of the year, we will likely still have to withdraw more funds from the Operating Trust before the end of the year.
Lloyd Symington
St. Mark’s Treasurer