Dear Parishioners,

Yesterday, Mike Emanuel, long time parishioner and Vice President on the Saint George Parish Council, gave a wonderful and heartfelt talk to the parish about the importance of participation as stewards to the financial well-being of our church.

Please take the time to read the text of Mike Emanuel’s remarks below and feel free to forward to your friends and family.

If you have not made a pledge for 2018, there is still time to make a pledge and then to make your contribution.

If you have already made a 2018 pledge but have not fulfilled it yet, please do so immediately here https://stgeorge.ccbchurch.com/goto/giving.

Thank you,
Parish Council

“I wasn’t born and raised at Saint George, but I got here as quickly as I could.
I had the great sense to marry a Saint George girl – Lynne Lailas – sixteen years ago, and this community has been a major blessing to our family.
Every major milestone of our lives takes place here–the wedding, the 40 day blessings, the Christenings.

And when my mom’s health was failing earlier this year, Father Dimitrios was there to give her the Sacraments, comfort and hold her hand, and then hold mine. Then 40 days later, many of you joined with our family to pray that her memory would be eternal.

Lynne, my wife, continues teaching 2nd Grade in Sunday School as she has for many years. I’ve had the blessing to serve on the Parish Council for the past 12 years. Savas and Tess are active participants in Sunday School – with Savas serving in the altar, and now in his first year of GOYA basketball. Our basketball star Tessie looks forward to playing GOYA basketball once she is eligible.

We’re so grateful for our many blessings we share with all of you here at Saint George. And when we consider our Stewardship, it is certainly about giving our time and our talent to this community. But it is also about sharing our treasure.

For those who have not pledged in 2018, my brothers and sisters on the Parish Council are armed with cards back in the Narthex, so you can still make a commitment to Saint George.

For those who have pledged, our 3rd quarter statements will soon be going out. If you’ve fallen behind, this is a great time to make a contribution to catch up before Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And soon our 2019 pledge cards will be going out, and we hope you will pledge generously.

We need all of you. We all know this is a very expensive part of the country. Paying the bills, maintaining our facilities, and allowing this parish to continue to thrive requires all of us to step up. To operate Saint George for one week costs $25,406.29. – one week. Let that number sink in.

We can and must do better. Not for me, not for the Parish Council, but for our children and our grandchildren.

The concept behind Stewardship is raising enough money to operate the church without other fundraisers. We should not be praying for good weather every year, hoping we can have a successful Festival to pay our bills.

In fact in this community, wouldn’t it be fantastic if we all dug a little deeper, so the proceeds from our awesome Festival could go to the building fund for new facilities at Saint George?

There is a passage in the Bible – the Gospel according to Luke chapter 12 verse 48, which says “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.” (Luke 12:48)

And that passage certainly speaks to me as I look around us – we’ve been richly blessed, and so it is our duty to do more.

We’ve set what I consider a very modest goal of $700,000 Stewardship. Frankly, I’d love to see Saint George step up and become a $1 million Stewardship parish. We could do that if the average pledge per family were about $1300 a year.

So I am humbly and respectfully asking all of you to give some thought about what Saint George means to you and your family. If your family is able, what more can you do for Saint George?

In an age of no foam, “half caf” $5 Starbucks coffees, $1 dollar in the basket on Sunday isn’t what it used to be. $25, 406.29 — $1 in the basket means we could be here all week passing that tray. Please help us move this community forward.

It’s not for me. It’s not for the Parish Council. It’s for our house of worship – our beloved Saint George, and taking care of our spiritual home. Allowing it to be a beacon of hope in this Washington, DC area for generations to come.
Thank you. May God Bless you all!”