My first written communication to the congregation regarding my desire to give up my position as Property Team leader was in my contribution for the Property Team for the annual meeting in 2021. Much has happened in the nearly three years since that time. Yes, you read that correctly … nearly three years!
The number of volunteers addressing property matters in and around the building has continued to be small by past standards. Although, ongoing appeals for more volunteers to commit to regular or ad hoc membership for the team have been mostly ineffective, the more obvious work such as grounds maintenance and work to keep selected spaces neat and tidy has continued to be accomplished with our tiny team of volunteers. But, any time I look through the detailed listing of tasks needing to be done on a regular basis, it is obvious that property management at Holy Trinity has declined significantly over the years and much of that decline has happened on my watch. It is well past time for a change and fresh approaches.
It is clear to me that what worked well in the past, no longer works for us. Times have changed. People have changed. When I first got involved with the Property Team circa 2002, we regularly had a dozen or more folks working on various property team tasks on a given Thursday morning. We could take on about any task that was needed and for which we had the skills to pull it off. How that has changed! A few months ago Scott Carson suggested periodic work days after Sunday services as a means of addressing some of the lingering property needs and to provide an additional social interaction for the congregation. More recently Bobbie Febbo suggested the same thing. I thought it was a great idea, and Scott agreed to organize the first one which was done this past Sunday, November 12. And what a success it was! Much was accomplished inside and outside the building, and a fine lunch was enjoyed by the volunteers. I did not count heads, but I would say there were 20-25 folks, maybe more. Many thanks to Scott and Leslie for putting it all together. This certainly proves that we have volunteers who are willing to work on property matters after church services. Maybe it is time to retire the Thursday Morning concept and move on to what seems to work better. That is something for my replacement to address. As I said before, the time for that change is well past due.
Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro tempore).