We have much going on in April and one of our Fundraising mainstays needs your help ASAP.

Read on and see all we are doing in April!  Thank you and now, be CCB Amazed!

PS - Please not that due to an unforeseen situation, the April Pastor's Message and Our Church Family will be delayed into next week.  We have the info (thank you Rev. Taylor!), but couldn't format it all. Sorry, but this was unexpected.

 

We have been awarded $13,000!!!  We applied for $15,000 for "Part 1" of our painting project.  Due to how the grant program works, we will be submitting 3 grant applications (including this one) in total over the course of the next year, requesting grants of 50% of our total cost.

Our total project cost is $80,000, but for the CT Trust grant program we have 3 specific projects:

• Part 1 - Steeple Restoration ($30,000)
• Part 2 - Exterior Repair & Painting ($30,000)
• Part 3 - Chapel Room ceiling painting and window repair ($20,000).

The CT Trust M&R Grant program is a historic preservation technical assistance program of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, in partnership with and funding from, the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, Department of Economic and Community Development, through the Community Investment Act.

Our state representative, John Piscopo, authored a letter, in conjunction with our Senator Beth Bye, in support of our application (click here to see it).  Rep. Piscopo's office has also drafted a press release announcing our award and expressing his support of our Church and preservation efforts.

 

Ann Jurkiewicz is also working on an article for the Valley Press publicizing our award and our efforts to repair and preserve our precious church!

 

We are currently waiting for the next grant period to open, which is expected sometime this Spring, and  the next grant period after that is expected in the Fall.

We have been selected yet again by the Town of Burlington to operate the concession stand at Malerbo field on Saturday mornings during the Spring and Fall 2016 BJSA soccer seasons.

The Spring seasons kicks off April 23. There are games every Saturday (except for Memorial Day weekend) through June 11 with June 18 as a rain date. 

As Tricia Twomey, Director, Parks and Recreation & Senior Citizen Services for the Town of Burlington said, "As always we are grateful for the valuable service the Fundraising Committee of the Congregational Church offers to our residents".

 

Can & Bottle Drive - TOMORROW
Save your Cans & Bottles from your Easter celebrations and March Madness enjoyment so we can get back on track with another AWESOME haul on Saturday, April 2nd!

 

Like last year, Fundraising will ask for donations of cold drinks and packaged snacks to sell at the parade, including Popcorn using our popcorn machine!

The Fundraising Committee also would like to purchase small American flags to give to parade viewers to show our support of our country and all who have served it.  Monetary and supply donations will be asked for to keep the expense of this fundraiser at $0.

 

Clothing Drive - October TBD 

As we have in years past, we will conduct a clothing drive on the same day as our October Can & Bottle Drive.  Unfortunately, the owner of the company we have used in the past had an illness late last year that caused him to close his business.

However, he has put his clients in touch with a NJ clothing drive company, Fashion Republic, Inc. whom I have contacted already.  They service CT and will send a truck the the day of the drive.

And they take TOYS and other items like pillows and sometimes even BIKES, as well as what we have always collected - clothes, linens, belts, shoes, pocketbooks.  They pay by the pound too!

For more detailed information, please visit their website for more information on what we can collect.  So, start to put aside all those unwanted clothes, toys and other items and ask friends and relatives to save theirs too for us!

This has the potential to make us thousands of dollars given the extra items this company collects. Please start spreading the word NOW so people can be aware of this and hold onto their items until October.

As many of you know, we rely heavily on our Fundraising efforts to make a significant impact on our budget and community outreach.

A large part of that success is our Quarterly Can &  Bottle drives, which has approached nearly 1/3 of our net profits.  For the most part, there are no overhead costs and the volunteer efforts make all 4 drives super successful.

We cannot make this happen without the support of Green Planet Redemption Center in Bristol, CT.  Lori Beam owns the facility and relies on her staff to handle the mountain of returns our Church and other non-profits give them.  For her, those costs have risen each year like many expenses have for any kind of business.

But, the CT laws have not increased the handling fees for 34 years, meaning this small business loses more and more income each year that expenses rise.  There are two opposing bills:

• House Bill #5385 to increase the handling fee to keep these services in business
• Senate Bill #312 which would effectively put a non-refundable $.04 "tax" on each bottle and no more returns.

HB5385 keeps Green Planet and the few remaining Redemption Centers in business, preserves our CT landscape from litter, doesn't tax our already stressed landfills and does not introduce a $.04 per bottle/can "tax" on all of us.  SB312 does the opposite and effectively shuts down a major fundraising revenue stream for our Church.

As your former Business Chair, I can't stress enough how damaging SB312 would be to our budget.  We struggle now, imagine having another nearly $4,000 gap to fill.  I have already written my email to the list of politicians in the PDF (I used BCC so I only had to send one email) and you can click here to see what I wrote.

Feel free to use the same words (with your own personal data, of course!), but don't delay as the Legislature is in session now and needs to hear from Church leaders as well as our membership now.

As if all this wasn't bad enough, what would I use the Big Tex for if SB312 passes instead of HB5385??  Please help, please don't delay.  Thank you!

Be sure to check out the Our Church Family  page on our website for even more details on today's CCB news of importance:

• New Member Welcome Sunday will be on April 24th during service.  If you are interested in joining our Church family, please contact Alan Chandler for additional information.
• Silver Lake Conference Center Camp 2016 registration opened on January 15th.  Brochures are available in the Chapel Room and additional information is available on the Silver Lake Camp website.
• Please support the Burlington Community Fund event on April 2nd at KC Dubliner. They are formerly the Burlington Bell Fund and they do much to support our community through charity, fundraising and cross-promoting our Church events to the community.  Support the organization that supports the town. From 5:00 pm until closing KC Dubliner will donate 10% of their proceeds to the Burlington Community Fund. There will be live music, teacup auctions, and a 50-50 raffle. There will be a small cover charge after 7:00 pm to pay for the band.
• We are members of our local Chamber and this writer is the Secretary on the Board, so I ask that you support our Business After Hours event THIS MONDAY at Advanced Physical Therapy in the Burlington Commons.  Click here for details, but we are asking for donations to fill the Burlington Fuel & Food Bank.  Check out a few of your local businesses, enjoy some free food and beverages and give a much needed donation.  It's FREE, so I hope to see you there.
• Throughout the year, there are many people in our Congregation or community who need assistance.  If you have wanted to help prepare a meal or fulfill a task, but don't know who or how to help, then drop an email to our Deacons and they will be in touch when the need arises.