July 25, 2024
Dear beloved in Christ,
I am so excited to share with you a new special summer project at St. James called Powering Our Future, Lighting the Way. This project will replace deteriorating roofs and use them to generate electricity with the installation of solar panels!
I hope you were able to attend on the Feast of St. James and hear more details about the project and its potential. Already, we give thanks for the strong and enthusiastic response from our parish.
This lay-led, lay-initiated project is the result of more than a year of collaboration, research, and exploration from our Creation Care Team, Buildings and Grounds Team, and Vestry. Continuing in that spirit, we want every person at St. James to have the opportunity to learn more and participate in this project. There is even an opportunity for you, your family, or your ministry team to sponsor your own solar panel at St. James. You can read more about the project here.
Any gift will be recognized with donors names on a framed parchment installed in the Narthex or Reception area. You, your family, friends, or ministry team can even sponsor your own solar panel. It costs about $500 per panel. You can give by bringing a check to the office, mailing it, or placing it in the offering plate with “Solar Panel Project” in the memo line. You can also give online by clicking here. Be sure to select “Solar Panels” from the drop down menu.
A project like this represents the pinnacle of faithful stewardship—caring for our sacred space in replacing roofs, caring for our financial resources by saving us money long-term on our energy bills, and caring for all creation by reducing our reliance on the grid and replacing a significant portion of our electricity consumption to solar energy. What better way to celebrate the Feast of St. James this Sunday!
While our hope is that every person can participate in this special summer project, we do not want it to come at the expense of your participation in our annual stewardship campaign which funds our operating budget. Normally, we might delay a project like this to guarantee it would not interfere with our annual pledge campaign. However, acting now opens up time-sensitive opportunities to access significant federal rebates of $60,000 or more.
Please join me in thanking our Creation Care and Buildings and Grounds team in bringing this project to us and come on Sunday to learn more!
With thanksgiving,
David+