PASTOR’S MESSAGE
The Growing Tree Learning & Daycare
located in Reidler Hall is scheduled to
close no later than Friday, August 23,
2024, “due to financial challenges.”
Our Council was shocked at this
unexpected news. They had not known
that the Growing Tree was having
problems until the operator told them
that she didn’t want to continue to lease
our property any longer.
The closing of the Growing Tree is a
great loss to the families in and around
Orwigsburg. There simply are not
enough daycare centers in our area. But
the closing of the Growing Tree is also a
loss to our congregation’s financial
health and our on-going ministry.
This closure will mean that our
congregation will lose as much as
$7,000 of income this year, and that we
may need to find as much as $24,000 in
new income next year.
Unfortunately, to this point, no one has
agreed to lease our property later this
year to operate a daycare or for any
other purpose.
Our Council has already met to discuss
this situation and will continue to look
for ways to deal with this unexpected
problem.
Our Finance Committee will also meet to
discuss our current financial situation,
even as they are beginning to craft a
proposed budget for the upcoming year.
If you have ideas which may help in the
near term or as we look towards 2025,
please share them with members of our
Council or our Finance Committee.
If you can contribute a bit more to our
ministry and mission this year, you are
encouraged to do so. Your kindness and
generosity will surely be rewarded.
Peace to All!
Pastor Mike
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“Blessed are those who trust in
the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. They
shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream. It
shall not fear when heat comes, and its
leaves shall stay green; in the year of
drought it is not anxious, and it does not
cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
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