At the Spring Congregational Meeting on May 2nd, the congregation approved, by a large margin, a motion relating to the loan of $112,900.00 obtained by the United Church of Gainesville under the Payroll Protection Plan. The motion, as passed, calls for the Church Council to develop a plan for how to use funds that have been made available by this decision and to not repay the loan to the federal government. The bank has designated the entire loan amount as forgiven.

At the Council Exec meeting on May 5th, a recommendation was made for Church Council to form a subcommittee to develop the plan for using these funds. Jim White will serve as the non-voting facilitator and Bromleigh McCleneghan will serve as the minister liaison to the subcommittee.

Representation on the subcommittee will come equally from five broad areas within the church. The five areas are spiritual, business and facilities, youth and children, connection and outreach and justice. The current boards and committees have been grouped among these five areas and one member from each group would be nominated no later than June 18 to serve on the subcommittee.

At the Church Council meeting on May 19th, the proposed plan of action was unanimously approved.

It is planned that the subcommittee will operate for approximately 3 months and present for approval its plan for use of the funds no later than the September 15, 2021 Church Council meeting. The final approved plan would be presented at the Fall Congregational Meeting as an informational item.

The subcommittee will provide a report on the rationale employed in arriving at the plan and it will take the form of a “budget” of sorts, showing the application of various amounts of money to categories such as make-up of budget shortfalls due to the pandemic, use on the UCG campus to improve facilities, use in the community, retirement of debt, or saving for the future. This list of categories is not meant to be exhaustive nor to convey any priorities. Specific projects within those categories will be described where possible. The entries in this “budget” will add up to the total loan funds received and deemed forgiven.