Finish The Promise: August 27 update

Nearly ten years ago, First Universalist members pooled our visions and our resources to launch “Not for Us Alone,” a campaign to renovate our historic Dupont Avenue building, making it more accessible, welcoming, and sustainable for all. We overhauled the education wing, built an apartment to provide sanctuary to families in need, and upgraded virtually every corner of our church home. Renovations concluded just as the worst of the Coronavirus pandemic lifted, giving us multiple reasons to celebrate a return to the building. 

But our work is not done. We still carry construction debt—$1.36 million as of last spring—which means that we are building profits for a bank with money we could be investing in our work, our programming, our community. Our interest rate will adjust on October 2, after which an even larger portion of our monthly payments will go to interest payments.

But we are not powerless. Last month we launched “Finish the Promise”, a rapid campaign to pay down the construction loan. As we approach the end of August, congregants have pledged more than $960,000 toward the loan, much of which has already been applied to the loan. We are in striking distance of being able to pay off the loan this fall. 

If you’ve already made a gift – thank you! 

If you’ve made a commitment, please make sure Brad Schmidt (Brad@Firstuniv.org) knows your schedule for payment. The sooner your gift is made, the sooner we can apply it to the loan. 

If you are still trying to figure out how you can participate, you can find more information on the church website. You can find members of Finish the Promise team in the Social Hall after each service, or you can contact Lynn Broaddus, Stewardship Committee Chair (LBroaddus@BroadviewCollaborative.com) or any of the teams’ other members: Rev. Jen Crow, Marc Gorelick, Jeanne Guignon, Ginny McAninch, Cameron Smither.