St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
St. Johnsbury, Vermont
2009 Annual Reports
For the
Annual Parish Meeting
Sunday, January 17th, 2010
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
1265 Main Street
St. Johnsbury VT 05819
802-748-2121
Email: standrew@kingcon.com
Website: www.standrewsvt.net
We believe God is calling us, through our Baptismal Covenant and the example of Jesus, to a shared ministry of worship, study, witness and service. In this we strive to be an inclusive community of faith, offering all people sanctuary, healing and fellowship.
Priest in Partnership: The Reverend Jean A. MacDonald
Deacon: The Reverend Armand Henault
Senior Warden: Diane Montague
Treasurer: John Ayers
Assistant treasurer: Kerry Surles
Vestry members: Sarah Maynard 2010, Nicky Stevens 2009, Julie Nicknair-Keon 2009, Robin Bergman 2009
AGENDA for Annual Meeting 2010
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
Opening prayer
Appointment of Clerk
Acceptance of Annual Meeting Minutes from January, 2009
Elections:
Vestry: appointment of 3 new members – presentations and discussion
Diocesan Convention delegate
Diocesan Convention alternate
Northeast Kingdom Deanery Representative
Finance Ministry Team Reports:
Year-end statements
Recorder of Offerings
Presentation of 2010 budget
Appointment of new Treasurer
Ministry Team Reports:
Priest-in-Partnership Report
Deacon’s Report
Senior Warden’s Report
Stewardship Report
Christian Education Report
Pastoral Care Ministry Report
Community-Building Report
Altar Guild Report
United Thank Offering Report
Other Business
Announcements
Dismissal
St. Andrew’s 2009 Annual Meeting Minutes
February 8, 2009
*Meeting rescheduled from January 18, 2008 due to flooding. Began at 11.20 a.m.
19 Church members present, 1 daycare provider, 5 children, and The Rev. Jean MacDonald, PIP.
Mardee Conover proposed and Nicky Stevens seconded; the meeting unanimously accepted the 2008 Annual Meeting minutes.
Elections: Vestry is looking for a new member beginning in January. Marion Parks is retiring June 1, 2009; John Ayers is stepping down as treasurer in 2010. Karen Cheney is delegate to Diocesan Convention (3 years – 2011), Sybil & Skip Hazen do not wish to be Deanery Reps. Mardee Conover & Sarah Maynard agree to be Deanery Reps. (1year).
Finance Reports: Presented by John Ayers. We ended the year with a surplus because we only had a priest for 6 months. We came in $3226.00 over. First Night ’08 net $1000.00. Sarah Maynard proposed Robin Bergman seconded: Financial report unanimously accepted.
Altar Guild: Presented by Betty & Sarah Maynard, and Nicky Stevens. Thank you for their work. Sarah is now the leader of the Diocesan Altar Guild.
Stewardship: Presented by Nicky Stevens
Priest’s Report: Jean is out in the community as much as possible. She is working to meet the needs of St. Johnsbury School children. Generous contributions to Discretionary Fund have allowed her to help with this.
Children & Youth: Anna Kennedy reported: 1) Sunday papers – useful for those teaching & teenagers upstairs. 2) Kerrie Surles – enthusiastic and dedicated to helping with children. 3) Family Services – first Sundays of the month.
Music Ministry: Betty Maynard & Robin Bergman report (include children/youth music ministry as well).
Budget: Jean is going to 2/3 time for 10 months a year. Discussion followed regarding various aspects of budget. Jeff Kay proposed & Julie Nicknair-Keon seconded and the 2009 budget was unanimously accepted. Marion Parks reviewed her role as book-keeper.
New Business: Reviewed renovation progress and plans for the church and Jones Hall. Discussion followed regarding financial aspects, preferences, and future use.
Jean gave dismissal at 1:30pm
Minutes written by Anna Kennedy; typed and submitted by Julie Nicknair-Keon.
Priest-in-Partnership Report, 2009
It was an amazing year! We started off with great joy at Epiphany on January 6th, with a trip to Burlington for the ordination of Armand Henault to the Diaconate. Adding to that joy, Bishop Ely assigned Armand to St. Andrew’s!
Joy quickly turned to horror with the “flood of 2009” on January 18th. It is quite something to look back and see that, in spite of the extent of the damage, we were only out of our building for two Sundays. I believe the Holy Spirit worked with us, since we came away from the flood with an entirely new parish hall. This enabled us to begin much sooner the three year plan that the vestry had developed in the fall of 2008. I want to thank the members of the vestry (Robin Bergman, Sarah Maynard, Nicole Stevens, Julie Nicknair-Keon, John Ayers and Diane Montague) for the many extra hours they put in listening, discussing and making decisions. John Ayers deserves special thanks as the “clerk of the works” for the whole project. It would not have happened with such speed without him.
Worship opportunities continued, changed and expanded this past year. We still offer a worship time every other month for the residents of the St. Johnsbury Health and Rehabilitation Center. We ended our shared worship time with St. Peter’s when they called their own priest in the summer. We baptized little Patrick Tester on Pentecost. We offered a Blessing of the Animals service to our members and the greater community and had a wonderful time greeting 35 people and 32 companion animals. In Advent we offered a mid-week Eucharist and added some silence to our Sunday worship.
Worship is our first reason for being a community and we welcomed several new worship assistants this year: Diane Montague as Eucharistic minister and visitor, Morris McCain as Eucharistic minister; Rachael Keon, Javin Garand and Elizabeth Compton as acolytes. We give thanks for the continuing service of Sarah Maynard, Susan Ohidal, Gabe Riley, Thomas Keon and Brooke MacDonald-Powden.
Service is our other reason to gather as the church and we have made great strides in this area. Although we have had low numbers to date, our new “Last Tuesday” free community soup and bread meal is a benefit to those in need. The vestry voted to go ahead with offering our space to be used as a “warming shelter” for a couple of hours each winter weekday for those in our community with nowhere else to go. This program has not yet started, but much behind the scenes work has been done and we hope to see it up and running in the next few weeks. Inreach (service to us) is also important! And so we have offered a family night and a teen movie night.
Our building – both the new parish hall and the flexible seating in the church – have been used by the community. Continua, the local hospice choir, gave a benefit concert here for the victims of the devastating fire across the street. They also used our space for a joint meeting with another hospice choir group from Brattleboro. The Pumpkin Hill Singers used our church space for their annual holiday concert and we were again a First Night venue. Many people have remarked very positively on the new chairs which give us so many options and are so comfortable.
A group from the vestry is involved with the diocesan program Partners for Sacred Spaces, a program to find new dollars and new energy for our church. This hard-working group (Diane, Robin, John and Jean) will be continuing their work in 2010 and you will hear much more about it.
I have become very involved with Community Partners, a group of people (mostly from the various departments of the Agency of Human Services) who are trying to see that the most basic needs of people in our area – food, housing, electricity and heat – are met. Thanks to the generosity of the people of St. Andrew’s, I have been able to offer quite a bit of help through this group.
In order to support ourselves spiritually, we invited the Rev. Ken Poppe, Dean of the Cathedral to teach us about Christian Meditation. We now have an active, ongoing group which meets every Thursday evening. We welcome others to join us. Armand has helped us re-start a group for Healing Prayer. The group has worked its way through a study book and continues to meet (1st and 3rd Fridays at noon) and plan for adding healing prayer to our worship.
It has been quite a journey! God has blessed us greatly and yet there is always more to do. May God strengthen us and may we continue to support each other in our journey into 2010.
Blessings to all,
Jean
The Rev. Jean MacDonald
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
Senior Warden’s Report, 2009
Thank you and thanks be to God, for allowing me another year to serve as Senior Warden at St. Andrew’s. Really! I have greatly enjoyed working with the Rev. Jean MacDonald, even though our work together is often as the Middle-Aged Movers! It has been my privilege to serve with such a committed and whole-hearted person, one who loves God and cares deeply for people. Her enthusiasm and hard work have contributed greatly to the outworking of our commitment to serve God in our community. We are very fortunate to have Jean as our priest, and I encourage all of you to support her and her family in prayer and in practical ways.
One favorite Bible verse that has encouraged me for many years is the following, and I recommend it to us all as a standard by which to measure ourselves as we live and serve together in 2010.
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Hebrews 10:24
I am also delighted that Armand Henault is now ‘our’ deacon. He brings unique insights and gifts to the life of St. Andrew’s and has enriched our ministries in many ways.
The members of the vestry (John Ayers, treasurer, Sarah Maynard, Nicky Stevens, Julie Nicknair-Keon, Robin Bergman and I) have grown closer and matured as we have worked and prayed and struggled together and made many difficult and momentous decisions. Chip Mesics, Jr. Warden, stepped down earlier in the year. I extend warm thanks and deep appreciation to John, Nicky, Robin and Julie for their service on the vestry and whose terms now end. They have, in fact, served a year longer than their original term as a favor and gift to Jean. They have worked tirelessly and enthusiastically and often beyond the call of duty, and we owe them a deep debt of gratitude.
It is evident to all of us that this has been a year of moving forward. The January ‘flood’ literally propelled us ahead to make the radical changes to our Parish Hall that we had talked about making for years! Who would have foreseen that such a disaster could turn out so well??!! Our 1941 kitchen is gone, replaced with a modern, efficient, light and attractive one. Our hall is warm, bright, welcoming and practical. Our small offices are very colorful and useful. The sanctuary has also undergone changes, changes which had been planned and prepared for over many years under the guidance of our architect, Patrick Kane, and our Building Committee. When the pews were removed in order to refinish the floor, and the whole area was revealed in its glowing beauty, the plan to move to flexible seating was the obvious next step. None of these updates were entered into precipitously, but had been carefully and prayerfully planned and thought through for a long, long time; long before Jean came to be with us. This from my report last year: “As a parish, we had a meeting with Patrick Kane, our architect, who presented two building plan options for us to consider. The future of our building is an ongoing process which we will be revisiting frequently.” We have been entrusted with a beautiful place where we can worship and serve, play and pray, and also offer to our community.
In September, Fred Maynard’s memorial service, at once a sad and celebratory event, and reception were held in the church, and the flexible seating made this possible. Betty has been a champion of the new chairs, and so it seemed entirely appropriate that this Maynard family event should be the first in our renovated space. The next event was the visit of a group of German organ enthusiasts with their leader, an accomplished organist. He was so delighted with the organ that he will be returning in 2010 to present a full concert. Later in November a world-famous mime artist asked to present his dramatic program in St. Andrew’s. He also has asked to return for another performance. At the very end of the year, Regina, the priest from St. Peter’s with her husband, Stephen, gave a harp/guitar concert to raise funds for the HELP fund.
Special thanks and appreciation must be given to John Ayers who was able to use his professional experience to guide us through the refurbishing project while at the same time keeping us on the financial ‘rails’. It would hardly have been possible without him. Thanks, also, to his wife, Betty, who has put up with his long hours away at church.
You may have noticed that we do not have a Music Ministry Team report this year. Karen Cheney served us faithfully and with great creativity as Minister of Music over the past years. Due to changes in her and Hank’s life, she felt it right to step down from this ministry, and devote herself to the Christian Education Program, for which, of course, she is wonderfully gifted. Thank you, Karen, for sharing your musical abilities with us and we are so pleased that you are now pouring your gifts into the lives of our children. Marian Wagner is our able and joyful organist, and we are very grateful for her hard work and service.
Sarah Maynard, Karen Cheney and Nicky Stevens, along with Jean, were our representatives to the Annual Convention. Thanks to them for this service on our behalf.
Warm thanks to those who have served on the Worship Team, the Pastoral Care Committee, the Altar Guild, the Christian Education Team, the Finance Team and the Stewardship Committee, along with those who have served us in the community, painted the property, prepared Coffee Hour, cleaned up after Coffee Hour, typed and printed Sunday bulletins, shoveled snow, fixed lights etc. Many of you are un-named in this report but deserve our heartfelt thanks for serving so faithfully, helping our church community to function more efficiently and effectively!
This is a long report, and even so I am sure I have omitted some important information. Thank you for your patience, and please accept my thanks, each of you, and let us together give thanks to our gracious and forgiving God, who makes our life together sacred and rich, often despite ourselves!
Respectfully submitted:
Diane Montague January 9, 2010
+ST ANDREWS EPISCOPAL CHURCH+
2009 INVESTMENT REPORT
In the past five years we have done a better job of managing our finances and have a lot more finances to manage! Details are shown in the attached reports. In October 2005 we had investments of $377,727 due in part to a bequest of $84,482 from Luella Schroeder, but did not have sufficient income to buy heating oil. There was talk of permanently closing St. Andrew’s. We subsequently learned we had over $100,000 of the total investment earning 1% in a savings account at a time when it was easy to get 6%. That alone would have paid for a year’s heat.
In October 2006 our investments were $388,651 after the down payment of an energy-efficient heating system that paid for itself in heating oil savings in less than three years. We had also started the Feasibility Study. By yearend, thanks to part of Dr. Quimby’s half million dollar bequest, our investments were up to $723,344.
By October 2007, with the balance of Dr. Quimby’s bequest and positive market conditions, our investments had peaked at $968,374 and we hoped the total would exceed one million dollars by yearend. The earnings of about $50,000 would have given us ample income for all our ministries. Unfortunately, the market began to collapse. In October 2008 we were down to $773,747… $677,766 in December.
In January 2009 we were at $672,440. When faced with the expense of renovations as a result of the freeze-up and flood, we elected to borrow money against our investments rather than liquidate them at distressed prices. In February we paid out $64,969 but received only $38,851 from insurance and our investments were down to $593,579.
The market began to recover, and by October 2009 we were up to $682,824 and to $701,670 by yearend, despite having paid out $91,577 for the renovation for which we have an outstanding loan balance of $76,949. At some point in the market recovery we will liquidate some of our investments to pay off the loan and avoid interest charges of 6% or about $5,000 a year. However, our investments have all ready increased in value $108,091… $16,514 more than the cost of the renovation.
Our investments are vital to our operations because the earnings from them provide over half our operating income!
_______________________
John Ayers, Treasurer
Encl: 4Q 2009 Special Funds Report
4Q Unit Fund Statement
January 10, 2010
Altar Guild Report
In 2009 the Altar Guild’s sacristy became more efficient, primarily due to the damage to the church. We were fortunate that none of our sacred items were damaged. New shelving and a much-needed cabinet were added to the room and the money-counting is being done elsewhere, leaving us more room for our supplies. We gave the mismatched vases that were stored in the old bathroom to All About Flowers, keeping the few matching vases on our new shelves. At Easter they gave us two $29 hibiscus plants for $16 each, showing their appreciation.
All the vestments were cleaned and boxed because the Rev. Jean MacDonald could not wear the chasubles. We went through the wardrobe and discovered a fair linen that Priscilla Barrett had made about thirty years ago for the altar built by Jim Locke when we were having our services downstairs. We started using the unique fair linen that the children had created in 1996 for the first Sunday of each month.
Sarah made new vestments for the Rev. Jean MacDonald as well as pulpit and lectern hangings, burses and veils. She made stoles and a dalmatic for the Rev. Armand Henault when he was ordained as deacon.
We reverted to using communion wafers in Autumn due to the H1N1 flu epidemic.
We purchased a new oil-filled Paschal candle.
Since there are only three of us presently on the Altar Guild, we need new members. It is really a rewarding and satisfying feeling when we put clean white fair linens and other sacred cloths out for the Eucharist, to have the candles and the cross gleaming, knowing that this is our handiwork for our church and part of our commitment to God.
Your Altar Guild
Betty Maynard, Director Sarah Maynard Nicole Stevens
United Thank Offering
The Spring United Thank Offering was held on May 10, Mothers’ Day, as is our usual custom, and the Fall UTO was collected on All Saints Day, November 1. We collected a total of $288.99 for the year. Blue boxes for your use to save your pennies for the UTO are at the back of the church. Ask Betty if you need one.
Betty Maynard, Chair, UTO
Community-building Activities
As part of our Mutual Ministry plan to strengthen our sense of community, we wanted offer a variety of activities for St. Andrew’s members to participate in. It was during these more informal/recreational type events that many of us began to learn more about each other and to just relax, laugh, and enjoy each other’s company – both young, middle aged, and old!
Some of the events that were held this past year were family nights for our younger population and a movie/pizza/discussion night for our teens, a boating/picnic event at Crystal Lake, and most recently our Tea Party. During this New Year, we hope to increase the number and variety of activities and to make some of these annual events.
Respectfully submitted
Julie Nicknair-Keon
PASTORAL CARE TEAM REPORT
St. Andrew’s church, January 2010
All members of St. Andrew’s are involved in the ministry of Pastoral Care. The Pastoral Care Team coordinates a Parish response at the request of the Priest or a Parishioner. Our approach is to insure that we, the people of St. Andrew’s, are supported gracefully and appropriately at special times in our lives, such as:
---Times of Trial (Sorrow, Illness)
--- Times of Joy (Marriage, Baptism, Birth)
--- Times of Transition/Achievement (Graduation/Honors)
This year our team provided transportation to four parishioners. We provided meals, made phone calls and sent out 25 cards for our card ministry. We also made hospital visits.
There is a sign-up list in Jones Hall for parishioners willing to help in the following areas: transportation, visitation, providing food and helping with special events.
We continue to search for the best way to communicate and share information. We plan to meet with Armand Henault for Pastoral Presence Training.
We need and welcome new members.
Sybil Hazen (626-8678)
Jocelyn Burrell (748-2747)
Jeff Kay (748-0315)
Mary Strole (748-9861)
Armand Henault (Vestry Rep.)
Stewardship Report for the Annual Meeting 1/17/10
We had great teamwork this year for Stewardship Ministry; Betty Maynard, Nancy Norton, Carl Stoneham and Nicole Stevens. Many personal letters were sent to members to provide information about the many ministries that are happening at St Andrew's Episcopal Church. It made us all pay attention to the various programs and events that are happening that sometimes go unnoticed in our parish and our greater community.
We had a good pledge drive with 20 pledging units committing themselves to the good works at St Andrew's, with a total sum of $28,524. The Stewardship team will be meeting and will plan a year-long sharing of information about the Stewardship of our Time, Talents and Treasure. Our members have been generous, and their commitment to continue to share what God has so freely given us is what Stewardship is all about. Taking care of each other, supporting our good works and fulfilling our mission is our goal.
Respectfully submitted for the Stewardship Ministry Team
Nicole Stevens
Christian Education Team Report
The Christian Education program for our younger members continues with some familiar and some new elements. The first Sunday of the month is a family service when all ages join and participate in the service. Both the young and the young at heart eagerly anticipate Jean's sermon for the children and we are never disappointed.
The youngest class meets on the second and fourth Sunday of the month led by Karen Cheney and assisted by Kerry Surles, our child-care provider. During the fall sessions we have explored stories from the Old Testament. One highlight was building a harvest booth. Kerry is in the children's area each Sunday to welcome the little ones while their parents attend worship.
The elementary class meets on the third Sunday of the month led by Nene Riley. Their focus this fall was to become familiar with the parts of the worship service.
The teens met monthly for dinner and a film with about 5 to 7 attending each time, and Jean and Armand participating. We will be setting a date for a Sunday evening in January soon.
The children have welcomed a set of hand bells and shared their lovely sounds at the Family Christmas Eve Service playing “Away in the Manger”. Our program has been enriched by the church wide events. These have included a picnic at Crystal Lake, the Blessing of the Animals,
Movie night and the Christmas Tea.
We are very blessed to have so many children and families and it is a blessing to work with them.
Respectfully submitted:
Karen Cheney & Nene Riley
