“I want you to think about what is most important during times of financial stringency. Those are the times when we try to consolidate and nurture what is most important in our lives.”

This is a wonderful congregation! Every time I walk into the foyer before Sunday service, I am happily reminded of that by the pervasive sense of warmth and life.

My personal thanks and gratitude go to every one of you for your contributions of friendliness, inquisitiveness and caring, which are surely more valuable to this community than you realize.

All congregations have ups and downs and this one has been no exception.

I agreed to be president as we were descending into a down without having any way of knowing how far down we would go. When I began, the sense of confusion, anxiety and even anger was palpable when one entered the foyer before service.

Many of us here put in many long, hard hours finding ways to pull ourselves back together, with help from wonderful District and UUA consultants.

As you see, the efforts were, over a fairly short time, so successful that for newcomers that period is part of the buried and forgotten past.

Part of the work we did was move from a huge budget deficit to almost no deficit at all. The goal, which is necessary for our financial survival, is to have no annual deficit at all.

We have, in fact, been so successful at community building that we may be reaching a plateau of complacency. It is too easy to forget that maintaining a wonderful community takes both ongoing commitments of time and ongoing commitments of financial support.

This is a tough year financially for many of us and there probably is almost nobody in the congregation who has not been affected by the global recession and/or spiraling cost of health care and other necessities.

But I want you to think about what is most important during times of financial stringency. Those are the times when we try to consolidate and nurture what is most important in our lives.

We do not want this community to have a financial problem.

I remind you that this May Memorial community is the community that is there for us when we or our loved ones are ill or in need; it is the community that helps us mourn the loss of loved ones who leave us.

It is the community that helps us to raise our children, nurture their inquisitive minds, share our UU values with them, and care for them as they pass through all the amazing stages of growing up.

It is the community that provides groups and forums in which we can explore our relationship to life and to each other.

Initially, I raised my pledge very slightly this year, thinking that I really couldn’t raise it more because if my own financial situation, with many unexpected expenses for my newborn twin grandchildren.

But when I saw that we might fall short of our pledge goal, I did some thinking about ways that I could economize further by cutting out or reducing some types of purchases or activities.

I decided that I could contribute an additional $300 by redirecting that money to this community that has given me so much.

And then I heard about the offer that Jason received from an anonymous donor, who will match 50% of any increase you make to an existing pledge. With that match my $300 will become a $450 addition to the pledge total.

So I am asking you, please, if you value the programming and the community and if it won’t hurt you financially, please raise your pledge if you have already pledged. And if you haven’t already pledged, please pledge as generously as you can.

~ Barbara Mihalas

(Barbara was president of the congregation from 2004 to 2006.)