This time of year, non-profits the world over notice an impulse to give generously during the holiday season. They are asking you to think of them when your generosity gene gets activated. They’re sending out pleas for end-of-year donations that might help tax situations (less likely these days now that the standard deduction has been raised). So here we are! YES! UUCA would love to be a recipient of your generosity! (Just sayin’.)
And to that end, here is the official UUCA 2019 Wish List…..
Um, except here’s the thing. You know how it’s hard to buy stuff for family members because they buy all the inexpensive things for themselves when they need them and there’s no way you can afford the expensive things? Well, same thing here. If it’s something that a congregant might consider buying for us, it’s probably inexpensive enough to be funded by our budget. And our very successful wish lists of the past three years have allowed us to buy the off-budget items we need. So here we are, hoping you’ll fund something for us, but what can that be?
Here’s an idea I’m stealing from the Annual Budget Drive team. How about if we join up together so that we can buy a couple of high-value items? I’m thinking about a couple of building upgrades for the main building.
Fund this: A New Closet (!) and Energy-Efficient Windows for Sandburg Hall
We’ve been dreaming of a place to put stuff like the extra Sanctuary chairs, and even large TV screens, “away.” But right now, there is no “away” to be had.
We’d like to build a room-size closet (similar to the handicap restroom) where the library is currently located. We’d downsize (but not eliminate) the library, add our closet, and then re-work that highly leaky and insecure “window-wall-with-sliding-doors” so that it is less window, more wall, with an easy-to-open door so that we make better use of our deck. We could even buy sensible, commercial-grade furniture for the deck. Wouldn’t that be something?
This one ought to be an easy group effort because we’ve already had a generous donor who has given us a great head start on fully funding this project. Designate your gift to the Capital Fund and we’ll know just what to do with your donation.
And if we have extra, there’s another part to improving the deck area we’d like to complete. We want to pave the area UNDER the deck to make it into another gathering area as we continue improvements to the yard area between the deck and the Memorial Garden. (You can see we’ve sort of gotten started.)
I’ll have cost estimates for these projects after Thanksgiving but in the meantime, you can challenge your circle of friends to group up together for a larger donation than any of you could give by yourselves. We’ve got this—together!