How Has Your Generosity Created A More Accessible Building?
During the month of November Peoples Church is focusing on the theme of nurturing gratitude. The Oxford Dictionary defines gratitude as, “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” Our Peoples Church building can be an important reflection of our values - especially gratitude. PCUU members and congregation provided resources for recent accessibility projects through our 2025 budget and surplus income from 2024. This allowed our Building & Grounds Committee the ability to hire a contractor that installed new ramps to access our building and chancel. Other contractors were hired to install new concrete to support the outside ramp and install the new electronic door opening equipment.
The congregation designated use of surplus income from the 2024 budget year for PCUU accessibility projects to be completed during 2025 at the December 2024 Congregational Budget Meeting. Using this surplus income for accessibility projects allowed the Building & Grounds Committee to plan and complete the work in 2025 without conducting a separate capital campaign. Given our current financial status, any future big capital or maintenance projects will likely require a separate capital campaign.
How we (PCUU) welcome and provide entry to everyone who may need a ramp to cross our collective threshold or access our chancel, safely and without hardship, is a way for us to return kindness to our own church community and those who may visit us. B&G Committee members or our congregation tend to focus on basic maintenance tasks like leaking faucets, hanging pictures, and maintaining our building grounds (and we do). But we should take time to celebrate and show gratitude for the financial resources provided and planned for through our budget that allow for more extensive projects like ramps or installing a new progressive pride sign!
Thank you for helping PCUU provide these resources and signs to our community that we are accessible and here for ALL!
— Submitted by Steve Hershner, Building & Grounds Committee, Co-Chair