Business Update
Labor Day has come and gone. Now, St. Paul’s comes back to life after a slow and easy summer. If you’ve been away enjoying some vacation or your lake house, welcome back! My name is Dan Thompson, Senior Director of Operations, or as some have more concisely entitled me, "the new Lisa." I am glad to be here and excited for this upcoming year at St. Paul’s!
I write to give you some perspective on the business of St. Paul’s. I hope to do this on a regular basis. Not necessarily providing numbers and graphs, rather just a narrative about what is going on from an operational standpoint at our beloved St. Paul’s.
Today I want to focus on some highlights of this year’s budget. In June, the Vestry voted to adopt a balanced budget for fiscal year 2023, which started July 1. The budget provides a nice balance of internal and external Church initiatives.
From a personnel standpoint, this year’s budget will allow us to hire a few new people:
Part-time A/V Specialist, who will help with all things audio/video technology, including managing our Sunday livestream
Part-time Youth Minister, who will focus on our teens
Database Manager, who will hopefully allow us to track your interests in interacting with us — oh, and ask you for money more efficiently (insert winky face) — don’t say we didn’t warn you!
We believe all of these positions will help us grow in our overall professionalism and efficiencies.
The Avenue Foundation, have you heard about it? Everyone seems eager for this coffee shop to open its doors. I promise it is getting closer. Once again, this year, we were able to make a sizable impact grant to the critical mission and work of The Avenue Foundation. As we transition to the next phase of this partnership, we are eager to see where the relationship takes us!
What else, you ask? New vestments for our Choir members are in the works. An immersive, social justice pilgrimage to the south, either Tennessee or Alabama, is being considered. We have plans to add some spirit wear! That’s right, we want to give you a chance to show off your St. Paul’s pride and represent the parish when you’re serving in the community. We continue to add to the technology in our rooms, helping us to expand the reopening of our building back to pre-pandemic, “normal” use. We have plans for expanded fundraising events (again with the asking for money?!?!). We have already spent resources on Godly Play materials for Sunday School and revamped our children’s areas. Our staff is expanding its continuing education training to further bolster St. Paul’s programming. And, of course, we’ll continue to find ways to serve the world around us.
Wait, there is more!!!?!?! We had to pay for a new water heater in the Parish Hall, that’s not exciting at all and actually was out of budget, but new nonetheless, so why not highlight it, right?
Okay, that’s probably enough for now, plus my hands are cramping, typing all the great things we are getting into this year. It obviously cannot happen without your tremendous support! For that we say a sincere thank you!
Dan Thompson, Senior Director of Operations