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♫ “I will not hate. And I will not fear. In our darkest hour, hope lingers here.” ♫

Greetings from Albany Unitarian Universalist, where this soaring chorus—so apt for our time—rings through our halls regularly. Yes, this year has brought dark hours, but Albany UU is a beacon of light. We on the Stewardship Committee are reaching out in a spirit of great hope to ask for your financial support of our church community.

You may have heard the good news that our congregation is in a markedly better financial position to-day than when we wrote to you last year. Recently, we raised an extraordinary $400,000 to pay off an 18-year-old debt we took on to build our primary gathering space, Community Hall. Because of these gifts, our church will be a debt-free institution, with an endowment of more than $1 million.
So why are we writing to ask for more?

Our strengthened endowment will generate about $30,000 annually for special projects. That’s wonder-ful, and bodes well for our future financial stability. But it is a far cry compared to our annual budget of $600,000. To pay our talented and dedicated staff, care for our cherished gathering spaces in the heart of Albany, and serve the cause of justice in our community, needs support from all of us.
We ask you to please “Help Hope Grow” by making an annual pledge.

For those of you who are new or newish to this congregation, we send our heartiest welcome. We are so glad you have been attending services, and we ask you to please take this opportunity to widen the cir-cle of congregants who support Albany UU with an annual pledge. Gifts of any size from new members bring critical new momentum to our work.
For those who are receiving this letter for the 5th (or 40th ) time, we are deeply grateful for your loyal generosity, which has sustained and shaped our congregational work in a myriad of ways. We ask you to recommit and, if you can, deepen your pledge, keeping in mind that every dollar fuels the fire of our commitment.

Hope lingers here. Your gift will help hope grow.

Yours in peace,

Stewardship Co-chairs Jan McCracken and Chuck Manning