Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mark's,
I hope this email finds you healthy, safe and keeping busy during our Stay at Home order. I miss seeing you all in person and can't wait for the day to enter our beautiful parish again, and seeing all of you and giving you a big hug! Thanks one and all for your Easter contributions, and I hope that you appreciated as I did the sixteen Services offered during Holy Week and Easter, especially those re-broadcast from 2019.
I wanted to give you an update on our finances during this pandemic. The following will hopefully give you an accurate picture of our finances to date.
Sustaining St. Mark’s Ministry in 2020
Thanks to all those who financially sustain our ministry together at St. Mark’s with pledges and offerings. The total budget for 2020 is $782,838, which requires an estimated $15,055 income per week, an amount arrived at through of variety of resoures. During these weeks of the Pandemic, the average weekly collection has been $4,000, an obvious downturn in giving. We are very conscious of not worshipping together and thus not receiving more weekly contributions.
Last week, we received $21,073 in pledges and offerings. That amount included a number of pledges paid in full for 2020, the Easter Offering ($3000), offerings for the Discretionary Fund ($2,000) and regular giving. Another reason we are seemingly ahead is that we received $50,571 in pre-paid pledges in 2019 for 2020 which helped the 2020 received income considerably.
Year to Date: Contributions Needed: $224,521
Contributions Received: $266,739 (Including the amounts indicated above)
Difference: $42,218
We are truly grateful to all of you who paid your pledge in full during this time, those of you who have kept up to date on your pledges and those of you who continue to give even though you have not pledged. We have been blessed by the donations we have been receiving during this pandemic while very conscious of the financial future if the level of giving remains the same.
Thank you for maintaining your pledges and giving whether pledged or not and for sending in donations for the Downtown Food Pantry. To date, we have received just over $2,000 to assist the pantry which in turn helps our neighbors through that valuable ministry.
Stay safe, and healthy!
Pam Stevenson, St. Mark's Finance Manager
