January Thanksgivings

As we hope to turn from the doldrums of this past calendar year to the promises of a new year, St. Luke’s Council gives its thanksgiving this December to the work of our treasurer Gretchen Burch. Thanks to Gretchen’s dedication (along with the willingness of outgoing treasurer Scott Shippy) and her fast-acting awareness this past Spring, St. Luke’s applied and was approved for the government-sponsored Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which covered three months’ worth of pay for our church’s staff members. Her calculated efforts in this regard have made an incalculable impact. And, thanks to Gretchen’s PPP perseverance, St. Luke’s is on track to have the loan entirely forgiven. Moreover, Gretchen has proposed and implemented crucial time and error-saving measures to better manage St. Luke’s payroll system. Not only that, but she has also overseen the ordinary yet critical intricacies of managing St. Luke’s budget, translating the financial tight-rope act into comprehensible snippets for those overwhelmed by its jargon. St. Luke’s also gives thanks for Gretchen’s work with St. Luke’s Housewarming Task Force. Not only did she help coordinate the move into our former Armitage space, but she has likewise taken the task to re-create our new church home on Wrightwood Ave, sorting all the materials from our move and creating space or our ministries to hopefully grow and thrive in the upcoming year.