Raise the Roof Campaign
august 19-23, 2024
Looking for our email that went out this week? Scroll down.
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...for Our Home and Theirs!
This past Sunday at worship, we showed a video highlighting our exciting capital fundraising event, Raise the Roof. (View the mini video below!) Our fantastic new roof was paid for using our capital reserves (nearly $144,000). We are grateful that this fund could cover the cost when needed, but we would be remiss if we did not do the fundraising necessary to reimburse that fund for future emergencies. Furthermore, recognizing that everything we are is a gift from God – and being grateful and generous with those gifts – as we pay for our roof, we will also raise funds to provide a roof for our neighbors in need. Plymouth lay leadership, with staff input, identified Rainbow Villages (a project of Foothills Unitarian Church) as the beneficiary of our fundraising tithe. Our youth group connected with Rainbow Villages earlier this year, through the Youth For Change event. In the wake of the tsunami of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and hate sweeping our nation, we want to join Foothills and our broader community in creating sanctuary and support for transgender and nonbinary people and their families seeking a haven away from states with anti-trans laws. We are excited to Raise the Roof for Plymouth and Rainbow Villages! Please contribute to this one-time event from August 19 to 23, or get a head start using the donation form at right. Learn more about Rainbow Villages here.
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Missed our Email this week?
Read them below.
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Day 4: Thursday, 8/22
Letter in the Overview eNews: Today is day 4 of our five-day Raise the Roof fundraising campaign. Why are we “raising the roof”? After over 60 years of service, our building’s flat roof was showing its age, and at February’s Annual Meeting the congregation urged our leadership to move ahead with a bold plan to replace that covering with a state-of-the-art sloped roof. That project was completed in April, at a cost of $143,968. The project was so critical, we didn’t stop to get additional funds to do the work – we simply used cash assets already in hand. But that left us with a significantly reduced balance in our liquid funds, the cash we use for day-to-day operations. The solution? A short five-day campaign, asking Plymouth members and friends to donate to pay for the excellent product we purchased last spring – a new roof, protection for our valuable building and all the worship, learning, mission, and fellowship that it houses. And because we recognize how valuable it is to have a safe and secure roof over our heads, we want to share that sense of home and protection to others, particularly those at risk. Ten percent of what we collect in Raise the Roof donations will be directed to Rainbow Villages, a project that provides sanctuary and support for transgender and nonbinary people and their families who come to Northern Colorado seeking a safe haven away from states with anti-trans laws. The campaign wraps up tomorrow – and we’ll celebrate your generosity with cake after the service on Sunday! Your Stewardship Board, John Karbula (chair) * Jack McGrew * Jillian Harrison * Karyl Rice * David Nielsen |
Day 4: Thursday, 8/22
Email: What is Raise the Roof all about? If you missed it, read the full story in this morning’s weekly Overview email: (posted at left) As of midnight last night, our Raise the Roof campaign total reached $44,671. All we need is one $100,000 gift to finish paying for our new roof. Ha! (Or… contributions from many in more realistic amounts.) As encouragement for those who haven’t yet given, a faithful couple has offered a $5,000 incentive donation for your contributions today. Their gift is an investment in Plymouth, an expression of their gratitude and hope in our future; and they invite you to join them. To give click here for our online donation form. Not ready to send money right now? That’s okay: please let us know of your gift using the form even if you are sending a check in the mail (just indicate you will “Pay Later”), as this puts your donation into our running total. How will you help Raise the Roof for Plymouth? We welcome your participation, in whatever amount feels right to you. Your Stewardship Board, John Karbula (chair) * Jack McGrew * Jillian Harrison * Karyl Rice * David Nielsen |
Day 5: Friday, 8/23
We wrap up our 5-day Raise the Roof fundraising campaign tonight. Why Raise the Roof? Last April, Plymouth Church addressed a need – on the back-burner for decades – that had now become critical: damage to our beloved building from leaks and seepage through the failure of our original 65-year old flat roof, the roof installed when the church building was constructed in 1959. The solution (a modern high-tech sloped structure) cost nearly $144,000, paid for by drawing from Plymouth’s cash reserves. Raise the Roof is simply us paying ourselves back for the cost of this important project. Further, because we recognize the importance of shelter, this campaign is allocating a tenth of proceeds to Rainbow Villages, a project providing sanctuary and support for transgender and nonbinary people and their families who are coming to our community as they flee the oppression of anti-trans laws elsewhere. Through last night, we have received gifts (or promises of coming gifts) from 74 donors, individuals and couples, who together have contributed $54,037 to this effort. And on this final day, we are excited to offer an incentive from two faithful couples in the church whose combined gifts of $6,000 express a hope that their generosity will encourage yours. Won’t you join them in gratitude by investing in Plymouth’s future? If you have been waiting until the last day to ride in on a white horse and make the crucial donation: wait no longer! To give click here for our online donation form. Not ready to send money right now? That’s okay: please let us know of your gift using the form even if you are sending a check in the mail (just indicate you will “Pay Later”). Finally, at the potluck lunch following this Sunday’s service, there will be a cake and ice cream celebration for Raise the Roof. While you are packing an item for the Talent Showcase potluck, we invite you to bring an ice cream topping of your choice as well. (It is Palisade Peach season…just sayin’!) Please join us to offer our joyful gratitude for your gifts that have made this positive difference to the Plymouth Community! Thanks again for your generosity! Your Stewardship Board, John Karbula (chair) * Jack McGrew * Jillian Harrison * Karyl Rice * David Nielsen P.S. We will send one final email tonight, to give you the “grand total.” |
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Day 1: Monday, 8/19
As you may know from our recent video, our church building on Prospect Road was constructed in the late 1950s by our forebears in faith, who anchored their commitment to a witness of faith and service in the heart of Fort Collins by investing in the structure we have inherited. We are that structure’s current caretakers, and the decisions and actions we make related to this physical presence will have profound effects for our descendants, those who will embody Plymouth Church decades into the future. The church building is our home, the place from which our faith, mission, and service spread out into our local community and into the world. As caretakers of this church home, this past spring we took the leap of faith to use our cash reserves, spending $144,00 to replace our 60-year-old flat roof with a new sloped, state-of-the-art roof. This repair solves a decades-old problem of leaks and water damage that we now won’t be passing on to future generations, and allow us to continue to be a beacon of progressive Christianity in Fort Collins and beyond for years to come. Today we kick off our 5-day Raise the Roof campaign to replenish those reserves – plus tithe 10% of gifts to Rainbow Villages. Plymouth lay leadership, with staff input, identified Rainbow Villages (a project of Foothills Unitarian Church) as the beneficiary of our fundraising tithe. Our youth group connected with Rainbow Villages earlier this year, through the Youth For Change event. In the wake of the tsunami of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and hate sweeping our nation, we want to join Foothills and our broader community in creating sanctuary and support for transgender and nonbinary people and their families seeking a haven away from states with anti-trans laws. Early donations have given us a boost as we start this campaign, and today we invite you to join this exciting effort. A generous donor has given $5,000 to be matched by you today. Click here for our easy one-stop donation form, where you can give online now, or let us know of your intent to send a donation later. If you intend to mail a check, please fill out the form and use the “Pay Later” option. This lets us know of your coming gifts. Additionally, once we know of your gift, you will not receive any additional email or text until our Friday update with totals. (If you have already given, this is the last one you will get… unless you let us know you want to keep getting them.) Every donation counts as together we Raise the Roof for ourselves… and for others! Thank you for your generosity! Your Stewardship Board, John Karbula (chair) * Jack McGrew * Jillian Harrison * Karyl Rice * David Nielsen |
Day 2: Tuesday, 8/20
Welcome to day two of our five-day Raise the Roof fundraising event! (If you missed yesterday’s email, you can read it at the bottom of our Raise the Roof page.) By midnight last night, donations totaled $23,684 to pay for our much-needed roof replacement – and to support Rainbow Villages as they raise a roof of compassion and care for our neighbors at risk. (We are giving a 10% tithe of this campaign to Rainbow Villages, which means we have already raised $2,368 for them.) Through Rainbow Villages, our partner Foothills Unitarian Church is addressing the critical needs of trans and nonbinary people living in increasingly dangerous legal and cultural settings elsewhere, and who come here seeking sanctuary. The project’s supports include short-term housing, job assistance, medical care, and other related life needs – building a community of care and connection. (To read more about Rainbow Villages, click here.) We invite you to give today: click here for our online donation form. Please let us know of your gift using the form even if you are sending a check in the mail (just indicate you will “Pay Later”), which helps us include your donation in our running total. And as thanks for your generosity, today we have another exciting matching gift of $5,000 from church members. We appreciate your gift, large or small! Your Stewardship Board, John Karbula (chair) * Jack McGrew * Jillian Harrison * Karyl Rice * David Nielsen |
Day 3: Wednesday, 8/21
We have reached the midpoint of our five-day Raise the Roof fundraiser! As of midnight last night, our campaign total reached $33,271. With these contributions, the Plymouth community has given 23% of the cost of the roof replacement which was completed in the spring, repairing decades of damage to our physical structure and protecting it from future impairment. Now we are halfway through the week. And today, to show their gratitude for Plymouth’s presence and their commitment to our future, a generous group of donors has put up $6,000 as encouragement for your gifts. These donors are not requiring a match for us to receive their donations, but wouldn’t it be exciting if today we met their challenge – or even exceeded it? An additional $12,000 would mean we could restore nearly a third of the money spent on our new roof. Keep a lookout for tomorrow’s Overview weekly eNews, in which we’ll report on the project’s story so far. If you make a donation today, your gift will become part of that story! To give click here for our online donation form. Not ready to send money right now? That’s okay: please let us know of your gift using the form even if you are sending a check in the mail (just indicate you will “Pay Later”), as this puts your donation into our running total. Thanks for your participation and for your love of Plymouth Your Stewardship Board, John Karbula (chair) * Jack McGrew * Jillian Harrison * Karyl Rice * David Nielsen |