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2024-25 Annual Appeal

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"Gratitude makes sense of our past; 

brings peace for today; 

and creates a vision for tomorrow."

(Melody Beattie on BrainyQuote.com) 

 Dear Members and Friends, 

This year the theme for our Annual Appeal is “Gratitude for Our Community”. Each of us has our own reasons for the deep gratitude we feel for UUSE. We have many shared memories of challenges and blessings. Here are some highlights of things we are grateful for this year: 

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  • First, and most important, is our gratitude to our volunteers who do so much for this church. Their dedication, their creative ideas, their service to other members, their spirit of hope and their commitment to a better life for all. Our volunteers are the lifeblood of our community, and we are deeply grateful. 

  • Our donors rallied to the cause when the Buildings and Grounds team presented their assessment on our aging property! They increased their pledges significantly so that we can build a Building Reserve fund to cover the repair and replacement costs. 

  • We found a wonderful person to fill our CYM director position. Emmy Galbraith brings a warm, kind, and wise leadership to our children’s ministry. 

  • With the combined efforts of NLDC and the Finance community, we partitioned the Finance chair into three positions: Finance Chair, Treasurer, and a part-time, paid bookkeeper. 

 

Some highlights of our preliminary financial budget for Fiscal Year 24-25 include: COLA increases and a few adjustments for staff salaries and benefits, the cost for the new bookkeeper, our commitment to building up the reserve fund for our building and grounds, a reduction in our UUA dues to 90% of the UUA request (to assist in achieving a balanced budget), our youth affirmation budget which occurs every other year, and our ongoing commitments to community outreach. Your donations keep the spirit of our church alive and well. They are much appreciated and will be used well. 

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Please complete your pledge form (and EFT if you chose that option) and mail to the church office or give to your steward by March 31st. As always, we are deeply grateful for your generous giving. We are all stewards of Unitarian Universalist Society East. 

 

If you have any questions, you can contact any one of us on the Stewardship Committee. For your current pledge amount, please contact the church office at 860-646-5151. 

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Yours in spirit, 

Patricia Wildes, Louisa Graver, Jean Knapp, Larry Lunden, Stan McMillen, Phil Sawyer 

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