Greetings –

Fall is upon us and it seems we’re settling in for a rich church year. Every time I’m at the church I’m impressed by all that is happening, from our own Sunday services and committee meetings to the wide variety of community members who rent our facilities.

The board hosted our first forum of the year with a meet and greet on September 29. It was the kind of meeting we enjoy – one where we shared our goals and work for the year and then had time to discuss more deeply the thoughts on your minds. We hope to continue these discussions in various settings throughout the year. Thank you to all of you who attended.

Fall is also our Annual Fund Drive (AFD). For a month – from October 13 – November 17, you’ll be hearing a lot about the importance of your financial support to our church. Let me add some thoughts from your board.

Through our work on the board, we see clearly how our ability to meet our goals and work toward our mission and vision are directly tied to having a sustainable budget that allows us to meet our existing needs and move into the future. Many of our goals are directly dependent on your strong financial support – particularly the first goal: “An Annual Fund Drive and income streams that meet the church’s budgeted expenses…”. You’ll remember that last year we used $65,000 of Reserve Funds (our savings account) to balance the budget. These are funds we can’t rely on into the future.

As board trustees, we are all committed to making the AFD a success, beginning with renewing and increasing our pledges. You will also see us staffing the AFD tables to answer questions (come have your picture taken with an “I pledged” sign), hosting the Celebration Sunday Brunch on November 17, and calling to thank you for your pledge and support.

As Rev Bill said, it takes each of us and all of us – every single pledge is important.
We are all blessings in our church community. Thank you.

As always, if you have questions or comments, you can email us at board@firstunitarianportland.org.

I look forward to seeing you all in church . . .

In Gratitude,
Kathy Ludlow
Moderator First Unitarian Board of Trustees