[Choir] message from me (Donia) and Charlotte

[Donia Prince]

Hello Choir!

At the urging of Charlotte, (who has done a fantastic job as co-chair of
the Stewardship committee and who will hopefully soon be joining us again
in choir!), I am sending out this message, as chair of the Music
Committee,  to urge you to make a pledge to support our church if you
haven't already done so.  The  pledge drive is finishing up and has done
well but there are a few loose ends, so to speak, and we need everyone's
support.

I'd like to offer a personal perspective.   I have at moments in the past
felt "I don't really need to pledge much, don't I give enough to the church
in other ways?"   All of you in the choir do give so much consistently to
this community--several hours each week of rehearsal, in addition to the
actual gift of the music we make to the congregation.  In the two services
survey recently conducted, 87% of respondents rated Music/Choir a 4 or 5
out of 5 in importance to their experience of the worship services!
But the greater truth for me is this:   This church uniquely gives me the
opportunity to:
Weekly share an often immensely emotionally and spiritually satisfying
musical experience with an appreciative audience;  sing with one of
Vermont's most respected choral directors, without having to pay for the
privilege (as one does in nearly all community based choirs);  sing a
greater variety of music than one typically can in any other community
group; use my abilities in a variety of other satisfying ways; and all of
this with a wonderful group of people.   This opportunity is actually
pretty extraordinary if I really think about it. So I urge you to think
about it as well!  Just speaking musically, if it weren't for this church,
I would have a huge hole in my musical life.   Beyond the music, of course,
the church gives so much more, in ways that are different for each of us.
I am exceedingly grateful for UCM,  and it is only right that I help
support it as I reasonably can.   All the best, Donia

Here is a message from Charlotte, including useful links:

As we are growing, and improving our efforts to provide for our community
(including increasing staff hours, providing health insurance, and giving
additional support for our programs), our budget is growing, too. That’s
why we set the goals this year of *increasing our pledgers by 10% and
asking folks to engage with *the Fair Share Guidelines
<https://stewardshipforus.com/stewardship-resources/suggested-fair-share-contribution-guide/>
*.* We believe we do have the resources in this community to support our
budget - but we need everyone to get on board!

The Annual Budget Drive officially ends Sunday March 24th, *so we hope
everyone can get their pledges in by then, if possible! If you need more
time, we understand, and we’ll accept your pledge any time of the year. *Please
use this link for our online pledge form
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSefa_CZJYnxWfg5hegrP50ynZIoTj4uJxRQzHgcGTnEoyXbOQ/viewform?usp=sf_link>*
or *print out this PDF
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TW07ey6bIIHKDJs7CaMb4T7gZaM4bpOC/view?usp=sharing>*
and
mail it, email it, or walk it in!*



In community,

Charlotte Root on behalf of the Board and all church leadership
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