Summer is here – bringing warm weather, beach trips, barefoot days and time for family fun! Summer also means that St. James’ pledges fall behind because vacations and outdoor activities limit parishioners’ attendance on Sunday mornings.
This year, your Vestry is more concerned than usual about meeting our financial obligations during the slow summer months. As was discussed at our Annual Meeting in January, the amount of 2015 total pledges is the lowest total pledges since 2007. Since a drop in pledges is not unexpected during a time of an Interim Rector and the added expenses of a Rector Search, summer pledging becomes even more important. The reduction in pledges means that the parish has to transfer money from our Reserve Account to pay ordinary monthly expenses. We trust that our parishioners will make every effort during the summer months to help in keeping our finances on track.
In addition, please remember that St. James’ can be helped financially by your regular weekly grocery purchases using the eScrip plan (Safeway purchases and various restaurants in our area – www.escrip.com) and using www.smile.amazon.com when purchasing from Amazon. Both these programs reward St. James’ for regular, everyday purchases and registration is a quick and easy process.
