It's been a good week in the church finance office!
Today, a cheer went up from Carol (our Director of Finance and Operations), who happily reported that we brought in two new pledges to the Capital Campaign, in addition to an increase of a previously made pledge. All together, in two days we brought in $23,500.00 more towards making our campus more functional and beautiful. Plus more of us are involved! While the public phase of the Capital Campaign has ended, we continue to work behind the scenes to inspire new gifts for this important work.
Once again, we can't say enough how thankful we are for each and every pledge made to this effort. We're doing our part in the great succession of generations who've made St. James their home. PS: look for an updated contributor list in next week's email.
REVISED ORDER OF TOP PROJECTS
At last week's "Renew and Revitalize Task Force" meeting, the following ordering of projects was agreed on. This is based on several factors: grant money disbursements, level of importance to the parish, longevity and safety of current equipment/conditions. Projects will now be planned for and pursued in the following order:
1. Parking Lot and Arrival Court,
2. Exterior masonry work,
3. Replacement of the heating and cooling systems,
4. Great Hall renovations, and
5. Other (other projects to be prioritized as we proceed).
IN OUR CAPITAL CAMPAIGN ACCOUNT
Early this year we set up a separate Merrill Lynch account for our capital campaign contributions. Keeping capital and operating funds totally separate will guarantee that pledged money (for both operating and capital expenses) goes where it's supposed to. At this point, we have received donations totalling $550,209 into our capital campaign account. Total expenses to date are $151,998 (on consultant fees, kick-off events, publicity and materials), with a remaining balance of $398,031.
GRANT UPDATES
We have submitted a grant for $53,000 to the Diocese of New York for our exterior masonry work. They are working with us to make sure our application includes everything it needs to for our bid to be successful. We expect to hear news in the early fall.
HVAC SUBGROUP UPDATES
The team exploring heating and cooling systems continues to meet, make calls and visits, and do loads of research on what the right system is for us at St. James. This morning, a couple members met with our current heating company to discussion common pitfalls he's experienced when installing energy efficient systems in old buildings like ours. Importantly, he also informed us that the current boiler, with the repairs we made in 2021, could extend 3 more years. This was an important data point for setting the priorities and project order, listed above.
THE RENEW AND REVITALIZE TASK FORCE
(Sign up to join our efforts below!) Bill Haffner, Mark Trager, Linda Killian, Ocean Mills, Tom Finlan, Monica Sganga, Gina Taglieri, Ray Joseph, Christopher Burrows, Pat Wynne, Omaira Crane, James Fawcett, Toni Lewis, Rob Fath and Nathan Gallup.
