Greetings from the Generosity & Gratitude Ministry,
This has been quite a season at WellSprings, as we’re sure it’s been for you, too. Sometimes it helps to take stock of all we’ve done, and recognize just how much we have to be grateful for—our adaptability, our tenacity, and our care for each other—amidst it all. Take a moment, if you’d like, to do that for yourself today. Make a list, and let yourself be grateful and astonished by it. What have you changed and created in your life in these past five months?
Here at WellSprings, we’ve been through a lot together. Just as many of us have had to pivot in our own lives since the start of the pandemic and the end of in-person services in March—and with no advance plan or preparation!—we’ve:
- built a YouTube channel and shared charged-full worship online, for 20 weeks straight
- introduced 32 new music videos to the world, thanks to our amazing WellSprings Band
- created a chance to connect in online Coffee Hour on Zoom
- built diverse programming for our kids and teens on Sundays and through the week
- offered weekly online Mindfulness and Mindful Recovery drop-in groups
- delivered care packages and meals to local nursing homes and shelters through our HeartWorks Team, and kept the WellSprings garden going, sending dozens of pounds of fresh produce to the Chester County Food Bank
- supported Chester County Futures with donations and gifts to their graduating seniors
- started a Production Team to train new volunteers to shoot and edit video
- received and distributed thousands of dollars through our Emergency Assistance Fund, a lifeline for members of our congregation during times of greater need
- provided care and connection through a pandemic that’s affected our community, taken jobs, and is isolating people for extended periods of time, and
- held our first ever online Congregational Meeting, electing Chris Groppe and Tiffany Shoffner to the Board of Trustees.
That’s an audacious amount of work and change we’ve processed in a few short months—and as a ministry, and as people, we are awed by what everyone involved with these charged-full moments has accomplished. THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Looking forward
Beyond this, we’ve had other big wins. Thanks to our Board’s quick action, we were able to secure a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program that helped ensure we could pay our staff through uncertain moments this Spring. Thanks to your continued generosity, we’ve maintained a balanced budget through the year. Due to the uncertainty now and through the rest of the year, the Board is budgeting on a quarterly basis.
We understand you may be doing the same—focusing on what you and your family need in the upcoming months, weeks and days. You may have the ability to plan far ahead, but you may not. As we continue to adapt as a community, it helps us to know where you are with your plans for giving, whatever those plans might be. We’re asking for a sense, from you, of your plans for giving at this moment. You can do this in one of two ways:
On Realm, go to your Giving page and click the button that says “+ Pledge” to fill in your plans for the coming year. Realm will give you the option, as you save your pledge, to set up an automated giving schedule.
If you prefer to give another way, or if your situation is complicated right now and you are willing to share, fill out this short survey for the G&G Ministry. We understand that things are changing, and may continue to change, over the next year. We’re here as a community, and it will significantly help our Board and Staff to navigate the coming months, as we collectively figure out how to keep our connections strong, if we know your plans. Can we afford new technology, or new staff positions, to help bring us together and engage our community more effectively? Can we invest in some short-term equipment costs for our Band, or our Production Team, to make worship online even more charged-full? There are possibilities we haven’t even conceived of yet. Know that your generosity continues to nourish this community as we find our way, together.
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact any of us, anytime—you can reach us all at stewardship@wellspringsuu.org. We hope you stay safe, and stay connected, in this new world we all find ourselves in.
Kevin, Rodney, and Adam
Generosity & Gratitude Ministry