Belonging and Thriving -- Together (A Homily for the Annual Appeal) Rev. Josh Pawelek, March 1, 2026

This morning, we launch our 2026 Annual Appeal, during which we ask every UUSE member and friend to make the most generous financial pledge possible for the coming fiscal year which begins July 1^st. This is our largest fundraiser. The Annual Appeal raises the vast majority of dollars we need to operate from day-to-day, to provide decent salaries and benefits to our staff, to maintain our meetinghouse, to carry out our mission, to achieve our vision—the dollars we need, as the Annual Appeal theme suggests, for belonging and thriving together.

Raising the money is never easy. Our Stewardship Committee does an amazing job running the Annual Appeal. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Stewardship chairperson, Patricia Wildes, and committee members Louisa Graver, Phil Sawyer, Larry Lundern, Jerry Myers and Stan McMillen. Raising the money is never easy, but I don’t want to understate the celebration at the heart of this moment. Your generous financial pledge to the Annual Appeal is a celebration of this Unitarian Universalist congregation, this spiritual community, this open, liberal, loving faith, grounded in our UU principles and values. Your generous financial pledge to the Annual Appeal celebrates the value of this congregation in your life and the value of Unitarian Universalism in your life. It celebrates your commitment to this place, these people, this faith. That’s why we made the decision to worship in the round today, all the generations, face-to-face. That’s why we invited the Atrium Brass Quintet to join us. It may just be me, but brass music on Sunday morning is always celebratory. I hope you feel similarly.

As is the case every year, we need to raise more money in this year’s Annual Appeal than we raised last year. That’s the hard part. (By the way, in my entire career, I don't remember an annual appeal that ever sought to raise less money than the previous year!) In addition to the usual cost-drivers (inflation, cost-of-living adjustments for our staff, anticipated health insurance increases, etc.) there are a number of essential new expenses I want to flag for you.

First, our Finance Committee and Policy Board have decided that the tasks of day-to-day financial management at UUSE are too big for volunteers to effectively manage. We’ve known this for a long time. We’ve tried to make it work. But the job is too big and there’s too much at stake. It is time for us to hire a professional bookkeeping service. The search for that service is already underway. Depending on what kind of service we ultimately hire, we anticipate a cost of anywhere from $8,000 to $25,000 annually. This is a big jump in our budget, and it is essential.

Second, because we continue to anticipate a variety of building repairs over the next decade, we are hoping to raise significant funds for our building reserve in this year’s Annual Appeal. While we have other ways to increase this critical reserve fund—we are establishing an ongoing building reserve campaign—we believe a percentage of the Annual Appeal needs to be dedicated to these reserves every year. We’ve also being naming this for a while. It really is essential. We were hoping to dedicate $25,000 to this reserve. But to get us closer to a balanced budget, the board cut it back to $10,000.  

There are some other new expenses, like building safety improvements and the one-time hiring of an amazing curriculum consultant, Kamora Herrington, to work with our Children and Youth Ministry program during the coming year. The proposed budget for next year will be available during the Annual Appeal. We are hoping for a 5% to 7% increase over last year. That is ambitious, we know. But we also believe we can do it. One of the reasons we believe we can do it is because we have gratefully and joyfully received a $15,000 grant to encourage us to increase pledges!  Pledge increases of 5% or more will be matched 100% from this grant.

I want to pause for a moment, and invite all of you to weigh in. I have two questions for you to ponder. The first is about Unitarian Universalism. What do you love about Unitarian Universalism? The second is about this congregation, the Unitarian Universalist Society East in Manchester, CT. What do you love about this congregation? I invite you to turn to a neighbor and share your answers to these questions. Kids, you can talk to your parents or caregivers. Or you can talk to each other. Or you can talk to other adults you might know. Folks online, we invite you to type into the chat your answers to these questions. What do you love about Unitarian Universalism? What do you love about this Unitarian Universalist congregation, UUSE? We’ll share some of your responses in a moment. Alright, talk amongst yourselves!

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Before we close, some logistics: Please sign up for one of the pledging potlucks. These meals in members’ homes are a great way to meet new people and discuss these questions in more depth. For folks online, please contact Stan McMillen. If you can’t make one of the potlucks, we ask you to respond to the Annual Appeal letter by March 17^th. If we don’t hear from you, an Annual Appeal steward will reach out to you. Please remember the stewards are volunteers with full plates. Please respond to them quickly. They appreciate it. The Stewardship Committee appreciates it. And, as a way of continuing the celebration, please note that near the end of the Annual Appeal, Sunday March 29^th, we are bringing back the chocolate auction. Watch the newsletter and eblast for more information.

Logistics aside, what is most important to me, always, is that our Annual Appeal enables our congregation to continue as a place of belonging and thriving; that our Annual Appeal enables us to continue all the ministries we rely on (Sunday Services, Children and Youth Ministry, Music, Small Groups, Affinity Groups, Pastoral Friends, Buildings and Grounds, Sustainable Living, the Verplanck Partnership, and all our connections to social and environmental justice organizations and coalitions in the wider community). My fondest hope, year in and year out, is that our Annual Appeal enables us to continue serving as a beacon of liberal religion, spiritual searching, and community engagement from our physical home here on Elm Hill, on the Manchester-Vernon line, above the Hockanum River on its way southwest to the Connecticut River. Belonging and thriving. That is my hope. Please make the most generous pledge you can to this year’s Annual Appeal.

Amen and blessed be.