28 October 2025

 Beloved in Christ,

As we have begun our new program year, there is a spirit of excitement in our parish – from the vitality of our Youth and new Young Adult groups to our new Art from the Heart Gallery – from new faces visiting on Sundays to a robust kickoff to our ESOL program – all of these things are witness to the Holy Spirit moving in our midst. 

But we need your help to support this momentum!

At its June meeting, the Vestry approved an updated budget for St. Bede’s that anticipates a $24,000 deficit for this year. To balance the budget before the end of the year, the Vestry is prepared to draw from unrestricted net assets and from a one-time disbursement from the St. Bede’s Endowment Fund to be used for the purpose of operations.

However, to be the most faithful stewards of the resources of the parish, we first want to return this need to you – the faithful who make everything here happen.

We would like to invite each of you to help us close this gap and balance the budget so that we may sustainably fund all of the ministry and mission to which we have committed ourselves for the glory of God. Could you give an extra one-time gift of $100 or $200 or $300 or $400 (or more, if you are able)? 

We are calling this our “1,2,3,4 Campaign for the Ministry of St. Bede’s”.

The fact that we came in at about 5% under what we had hoped to achieve in our pledge campaign does not indicate a lack of vitality nor does it suggest unsuccessfulness for our 2025 “Caring for one Another” pledge campaign. I am so very thankful to Claudia Fedarko and Steve Hadler for their leadership in stewardship this year. Through this campaign, 45 members increased their 2025 pledge over their 2024 commitment (for an additional $21,000) and we received 7 new pledges (adding $11,000 in revenues). Our average pledge amount remains above $5,000 – which is well above average for most Episcopal churches. And, if you have not yet made a pledge yet for the current year – it’s not too late – we would still love to hear from you! (Click here to make a 2025 pledge to St. Bede's online.)

The anticipated $24,000 budget gap comes mainly as the result of two factors:

1) Increased operating expenses – everything costs more to run than it did five or six years ago – mainly utilities, insurance, facilities, and grounds care. The Vestry also wanted to give our faithful staff a much deserved 2% cost-of-living adjustment this year. 

2) The loss of several pledges from faithful members who have retired and moved away and from several faithful who have died in the past year. We love them and we miss them all.

I hope that you would prayerfully consider responding by making a gift of $100, $200, $300, or $400 (or more, as you are able) to support this “1,2,3,4 Campaign for the Ministry of St. Bede’s”

To give, you can designate a check for the “1,2,3,4 Campaign” or you can make a gift through Realm (select “1,2,3,4 Campaign for Ministry” from the fund list).

We reached out to our faithful pledgers earlier this month and we are already halfway to meeting the goal of balancing the budget. Thank you to all who have already responded. This leaves just around $12,000 that we hope to raise in the next few weeks to support the ministry and mission of St. Bede’s.

I realize that there are many times during the year when various opportunities are presented and support is requested for various outreach activities and for various other ministries or improvement projects. This request is an appeal to sustainably support the overall operation of St. Bede’s – our faith community from which all other ministry flows.

The Vestry thanks you for your commitment to helping us meet this need together.

Peace,

Chad & the Vestry