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Thanking Carol Burns: Save The Date!Last week I announced the happy (for her!) news that our Director of Finance and Operations, Carol Burns, will be retiring this month. Join us for a festive coffee hour and farewell after the 10:30 am service on January 26. Carol has been with us since 2017, and her work here has been prodigious. She's also a good friend to many. She will be missed, but we're so happy for her as she begins this next phase of her life. Above is one of my favorite pictures of Carol, happily finding (after a frantic search) the correct, "authentic" silver dimes for our Silver Dime Ceremony last September. Carol assures me she'll be on hand once she's retired to help us find things. :) We're so grateful for her work with St. James. Hope you can make it on the 26th! |
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In Case You Missed it Last Week: Renew & Revitalizing our CampusIt may be hard to believe, but the first anniversary of the Capital Campaign kick-off is approaching. This time last year rumors were swirling about how the discernment went, how much we could raise, what work we were contemplating, etc. And then there was the shock and awe of how much we had already raised in the early days of the campaign culminating with the present commitment of $2.4MM, excluding grants. Now it may seem like we have gone quiet on the Campaign, but that is because we have been working hard on getting the plan for the parking lot renovation and permit application submitted to the Town of Scarsdale. See our submission here (also below). While we are thrilled with the current proposal, it is still subject to approval by the Town of Scarsdale and could ultimately be modified. The goal is to get approvals in February/ March, bid packages released to contractors in March/ April, and begin construction in June/ July. We hope to impact church and nursery school operations minimally during this period. To this end, the contractor bids will have a staging model to allow for the continued use of the parking lot during the construction phase. How can we afford this already, you ask? Everyone has answered the call for support. A huge thank you to all who have committed to this historic project. Anyone feeling left out, there is still time to join in the fun. To date, we have collected over $750,000 and have a grant commitment of $225,000 for the first phase of the parking lot. We are on pace to have enough to cover this early project. So exciting! I know we will all miss the potholes. This, of course, is all contingent on cash flows continuing at their current pace. On that subject, if you did not specify the frequency of your contribution, please reach out to the finance manager at finance@stjamesscarsdale.org to update that information. Please be sure to attend the Annual Meeting on February 2nd for a broader discussion of the work done so far, to get an update on the Scarsdale Planning Board meeting, and other riveting topics such as boilers and HVAC systems. Yours fondly, Ocean Mills-Finlan |
