I want to begin the Council newsletter column for March by thanking God for His blessings as we celebrate our 2018 Raise the Roof project. Due to our members’ generous response we have received $240,616 toward renewing our Ascension Church facilities. In addition to this amount we have $75,836 from the proceeds of the house sale last year resulting in total available funds of $316,452.
Our expenses for fixing the roof (phase one) were $128,815 which covered the Sanctuary roof, the East and West Hall roofs, the Narthex roof, some siding, and the skylights. Our budget for just the East and West Hall roofs was $160,000 based on initial estimates so we were significantly under budget with additional work done.
With $187,637 currently available we have begun phase two which involves siding for the Sanctuary, Office, East and West halls, 2 security doors, windows for the East Hall, and window trim for the Sanctuary. Estimates for this work are $164,985 which should give us $22,652 for additional facilities work.
I want to thank the Raise the Roof team for all of their efforts and especially Craig Greenwood who led this project, Doug Bue as the Stewardship leader, and Cynthia Carlson as our Director of Operations with significant contributions by Darin Maas and Michael Jahner.
The Ascension Church Council this month appointed Edwin Aparicio as our Spanish Language Minister. I want to thank Edwin for his courage in joining with us to begin a new ministry at Ascension and his willingness to serve in this role. We look forward to seeing how our Spanish language service, bible study, and other efforts will be blessed. The Council is committed to supporting this effort as our church family grows.
Michael Hamm has agreed to become the Ascension treasurer for this year. Please thank him for his willingness to serve in this role.
Lastly, Ascension has decided to become a voting site for the City of Waukesha for the April 2nd election. We have a team preparing for this event and look forward to serving our neighbors in this new way.
May God bless you as you grow in your faith,
Jay O’Grady
Council President
(Reprinted from the March 2019 newsletter)
