President’s message
May 18, 2023
Greetings to all parishioners of St. Katherine! This is my second report this month due to the postponement of our meeting after Pascha.
Summer is here and many of our ministries will be taking a break for the season. Sunday school graduation was Sunday, May 21. Congratulations to all our seniors! We wish them well in their future endeavors and look forward to them continuing to participate in parish events and programs.
I would like to thank Harry Bafaloukos for assisting me with shopping for food items and preparing the meal served for our Mother’s Day brunch! I would also like to thank the ‘men of the parish council’ that helped in the kitchen, helped clean up and one who even took on the task of being our mobile mimosa server! Obviously, the theme was to thank the mothers of the parish for all you do for your families, your church and in the community. It was our pleasure to honor all those in attendance.
A summary of the minutes of the Parish Council meeting of April 24 follows:
The financial report showed continued improvement in stewardship pledges and donations. Those donations, along with generous donations during Holy Week have allowed St Katherine to continue to stay current with our obligations and not require a dip into our savings due to the church receiving no rent from the vacant education building. For that, we thank God and those of you that have continued to maintain and/or elevate your stewardship donations.
Vange reported on the proceeds from the General Assembly luncheon and the church’s share of our joint fund-raiser with AHEPA. A motion was made and approved to use those proceeds for upgrades needed on the 4th acre building. We were instructed at the General Assembly to explore renovating the 4th acre for increased use by ministries and fraternal groups. We were also instructed to renovate and equip one room for use by a ‘moms and tots’ club that will be forming when we have a place for them to meet. We will have fund-raisers and raise awareness that donations will always be accepted for these renovations.
The Parish Council also discussed asking parishioners that have experience or skill in various trades to let one of us know of your field of expertise. We aren’t asking for you to do the work or donate supplies – but we would like to know of parishioners that have knowledge of trades that could give us advice on the best ways to move forward. I’m referring to contractors, electricians, plumbers, HVAC, roofers, etc. If you have the experience and are willing to help us plan these renovations, please speak with any Parish Council member and you will be contacted. A 4th acre oversight committee was formed and they will begin putting a plan together to get this job completed!
The maintenance committee continues to get bids for roof repairs. The elevator is functional again! The large decorative doors at the outside entrance to the church and into the Nave were recently serviced. A part is on order for the one door that closes slowly. We hope to have that corrected as soon as the part arrives.
New business: we are to produce a price list for everything related to the church and community center; inclusive of sacraments and hall rentals (for parishioners as well as non-parishioners). A committee was appointed to complete a review of the by-laws of our parish. It has been quite some time since a revision has been made. Lastly, it was reported that the church received $140 for our portion of the 50-50 raffle that was held during the AHEPA dinner. It was voted that those proceeds would also be added to the 4th acre renovation project. Antigoni is to keep track of all monies added to that particular account (ie restricted fund).
Dimitris Laloudakis reported on the continued negotiations and due-diligence being performed regarding leasing the education building. We are hoping to have a new tenant in the next month or so. Pray for it! Leasing the education building would be a blessing at this point in time. Ultimately, we would prefer the use of all of our campus for our ministries and projects, but currently we need the income from a tenant to get us to that point. Your patience and dedication to our ultimate goals is to be commended and I appreciate all that you do for St Katherine and the parish we continue to build in Chandler.
Yours in Christ,
John Chrisagis, Parish Council president
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