Stewardship — Annual Giving
An Invitation to give, from Trinity lay leader Joan Garuti
Grace and Peace to you!
In the spirit of “All flourishing is mutual,” and “When we’re all doing better, we are all doing better” — the simple message during this season of thanks and giving is this: Please share God’s gifts as you are able.
The Sugar River Episcopal churches and every member of each congregation bring their special God-given gifts to the community. When we work together and learn from each other it sends a powerful message that God is with us. God is good, and God invites the wandering to find safety and hope.
I’ve offered these words before, at Trinity and at Diocesan Convention, and Dean Kelly invited me to share them again as part of our annual stewardship letter. They take promises shared by the prophet Isaiah, and translate them to the Sugar River Mission:
If you welcome all people without condemnation,
if you continue to make friends over food, by sharing through our gardens, by adding canned goods and snacks to our blessing boxes, through community dinners and BBQs, and through the school backpack program,
if you keep the warming shelter open and offer help to the unhoused,
if you offer music, art and literature through concerts, crafting events and story walks and other community events on church grounds,
if you continue to reduce your carbon footprint by investing in solar power and through efficiency,
if you offer your buildings to other community groups for their meetings and projects,
if you share information and training for keeping our communities safe, and caring,
if you pray for the healing of all God’s people and all creation:
Then even during a crisis your light will shine. The Lord will continue to guide you and lead you to new ways to bring encouragement to the people of the Sugar River Region. You will have the strength to do God’s work. People will learn about the Rock of Salvation and the river of sweet faith. Children and young adults will enter your open doors. You will be called the healers of the breach. And you will be restorers of hope in our community.
Those are some of the missions we are already involved in. I believe that God will give us the tools and strength and finances to continue them and do even more than we thought possible.
God trusts us. God has trusted us to be stewards of the Earth. God has entrusted us to each other. Stewardship is about the joy of giving back to God what God has shared with us.
Please: be generous with joy.
Faithfully,
Joan Garuti
*A note from Dean Kelly: My immeasurable gratitude to Joan Garuti, whose voice as a preacher and advocate for the care of all God’s creation is one of Trinity’s God-given gifts. Her voice and vision are shaping our emerging Sugar River Episcopal Mission for the better!
The coming year, 2026, will be one of transformation and transition for our churches. Each congregation (Trinity, Epiphany, and Union-St. Luke’s) is shaping its own budget—the mission and maintenance expenses in each place, and the congregational giving, grant and rental income, and other gifts that fund the holy work we do. Your commitment-to-give for 2026—your annual “pledge”—represents your part of what Trinity is bringing to the Sugar River Mission table, as, alongside the Mission’s interim Treasurer, Lauren Tennett (the diocese’s finance director), we envision the Mission’s first big-picture financial plan.
Please prayerfully consider what you give back, in gratitude to God, by giving to Trinity.
If you’re new to Trinity—or new to making an annual giving commitment—know that your fellow members do give faithfully, and in proportional to their means. (Household annual giving ranges between $10 each month and $ 1,000 each month, with gifts all through that spread, which is a beautiful reflection of the all-sorts-and-conditions of people who call Trinity their church home.)
If you’re a long-time giver: What would increasing your level-of-giving by 1% mean? By 2%? (If you’re giving $200 a month, that’s about another $1.00 a week, less than a cup of coffee)
Please return the form below—in a sealed envelope, addressed to the Pledge Clerk, or as an email to kss@nhepiscopal.org with the subject line Trinity Pledge 2026— by Sunday, December 7, so that the Vestry has a working total of pledged giving for its December 8th meeting, when they will look at a 2026 budget. Be assured, too, that it is only ever myself, as your priest, and Roger Formidoni, as congregational treasurer, who is aware of the dollar amount of any household’s pledge.
In faith, and trust, and gratitude,
Kelly+
NAME(S) _____________________________________________________________________
In gratitude to God, and as my financial contribution to the work of Trinity Church, I/we commit to the following TOTAL “pledge”/offering for 2026: _________________
I/we plan to give ________ each week/month/one-time gift (please indicate frequency).
I know that if my financial situation changes during the year, my giving can change, too.
Signed & dated: ____________________________________________________________