Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you, to all of you who turned in your 2019 pledge cards last Sunday.  The Bishop’s Committee, who must now adopt a budget based on your stated giving intentions, can now begin its work.  The 2019 budget must be adopted at their December meeting so that we have an adopted budget and associated employee pay rates at the beginning of the year.  If you haven’t yet turned in your pledge card, there’s still time.  Just put it in the collection basket or hand it to Mother Alissa.  The Bishop’s Committee will adopt a balanced budget based on all pledges received by the end of November.

Of course, pledges are just intentions.  They are critically important, but they aren’t legally binding contracts.  How 2019 actually unfolds for you financially is up to God and the vagaries of the marketplace.  If you find you can’t meet your pledge, it’s OK.  Food, shelter, and medical care for you and your family are always more important than giving to St. Columba’s.  In past years some people have been able to give more than they pledged.  This is great and helped offset those who were not able to meet their pledges.  In the end, all is forgiven.  This year we are treating contributions in excess of your pledge as a “plate” contribution rather than artificially raising your pledge.  Therefore, as you can see if youclick here, pledge payments through September were $7,700 below an even monthly spread whereas plate payments were $3,100 above budget.

You should shortly be receiving your 3^rd Quarter Giving Statements from, Sondra Nelson, our Receiving Treasurer.  We have been working very hard to ensure that these are complete and accurate.  However, there may still be some problems with them.  It would help us out if you would examine them carefully and report anything that looks peculiar to you to me or Sondra.  It’s important that the year-end giving summaries be absolutely accurate for tax purposes.

Overall, so far in 2018 (i.e. through the 3^rd Quarter) we are only slightly negative.  However, it’s important that we end the year in a net positive position.  So, if your quarterly giving statement shows that you are behind in your pledge (i.e. not having already given ¾ of the total) please do your best to catch up over the last quarter of the year.  This congregation is so incredibly generous in so many ways.  Thank you for all you do to help us continue to thrive.

Sincerely,

Carol K. Everson

Treasurer