Board News

The Board of Trustees is continuing to work on developing church policies which are being put in a standard form, posted, and kept in a book that is available for viewing. Our goal is to create a living body of policy, in black and white rather than someone's memory, that will direct and guide our efforts as a Congregation. Mary Jo Day has been the shepherd of this project, and we thank her for her ongoing efforts to make us an "organized" religion. We will post all final policies on the bulletin board outside the office. We ask that these not be removed. The book of policies is also available in the church office.

A recent and important policy change involves procedures and timelines for writing checks. In order to assure institutional accountability, we have increased the number of authorized check signers to four, and will require two signatures on all checks over $200. We will also be maintaining a system of regular check preparation every two weeks except in cases of extreme emergency. Our hard working Treasurer Janet Spencer is a volunteer, as are the other check signers, and we need to be considerate of their time. Our contract bookkeeper writes checks twice a month, and we will issue all requested checks approximately every other Sunday. If you need a check, please submit a check request form (available through the office) as early as possible, and understand that payment cannot be instantaneous. The finance team has also arranged for staff paychecks to be direct deposited, and for all payroll related matters to be handled by a payroll service, which will be a convenience to staff and will save time for our volunteer Treasurer and check signers.

We are gearing up for a very busy time at our church the week of February 17th. We will have over a hundred volunteers staying at the church (including a youth group being hosted directly by the board in the downstairs space.) The Volunteer Center is requesting help from First Church in welcoming these visitors. Please consider helping in one or more of these ways -- bringing food for a pot luck dinner, hosting a few overflow visitors in your home, or offering your showers for groups to use. If you can help, contact Quo Vadis Breaux in the Volunteer Office. Other events that week will be the D'Orlando Social Justice lecture by Rabbi Michael Lerner on Monday, which is expected to draw large crowds, a possible session with Scott Ritter later in the week, a workshop with partner church representatives to launch the GNOUU Rebuilding and Revitalization campaign on Saturday, and the Congregational Meeting on Sunday. Please mark your calendars now and plan to participate in this exciting week.

We are pleased to announce the formation of a Personnel Team, which began meeting this month. The team includes Gerry Goar (leader), Max Oeschger, and Cathy Cohen. Many thanks to Kathy Hubbell, board liaison, and Rev. Melanie, for recruiting this strong team, and to these members for stepping forward to make sure the needs of our staff are addressed in a professional manner.

We are in need of volunteers to form a fundraising team which would report to the Finance Team. Our tree sales were a great success, but we will be stronger if we have more than one fundraiser each year. Possibilities include rummage sales, silent auctions, performances, crafts fairs, but we need some creative folks to develop, schedule and recruit volunteers to hold such events. If this appeals to you, please contact Ann Maclaine or Janet Spencer. Thanks!

Finally, we want to share with everyone the fantastic news about an anonymous donation of $200,000 to our rebuilding campaign. A check for $100,000 has been sent, with a pledge of an additional $100,000 next December. This amazingly generous donation is a great kick start to the GNOUU Rebuilding and Revitalization Campaign. With it and a few other lead gifts, we have reached 12% of our $2.7 million goal before the campaign is fully launched. We have conveyed our thanks to this anonymous benefactor and hope that his/her/their gift will inspire others.