Finding a time and place for the Pioneer (Spanish) Branch to meet

Presidente Ibarra,

As we discussed earlier, will you please counsel with your branch leadership as to your preferred future meeting times and places for 2019 and possibly 2020?

The options are:

1. CONTINUE AS IS FOR ONE MORE YEAR: Remain with the Damascus Ward and meet again for one more year at 9:00 am with the branch meeting in the Relief Society room, as you’re currently doing (asking the Walters Hill Ward to move to the 11:00 am time slot rather than the 9:00 am time, as they’re expecting to do in January).

2. MEET WITH WALTERS HILL: Continue the meeting rotation as scheduled and have the Pioneer Branch overlap with the Walters Hill Ward; continuing to hold sacrament meeting in the Relief Society room at 9:00 am.

3. MOVE TO ESTACADA: Move to the Estacada building and overlap with the Estacada Ward’s 2nd and 3rd hours and then hold the Pioneer Branch sacrament meeting in the chapel at 1:00 pm. (The Estacada Ward currently begins at 10:00 am each Sunday. One variation is to have the Estacada Ward meet at 9:00 am so your sacrament meeting would begin at 12:00 noon, if preferred.)

One additional option is to have the Pioneer Branch move with the Damascus Ward with the block meetings beginning at 11:00 am but it would require finding another room in the stake center for either the branch to hold sacrament meeting or for the WH Relief Society to hold their 3rd hour meeting—either would create a major challenge.

We look forward to hearing back soon as to your branch leaders’ feelings on the above…or with any additional recommendations.

Gratefully,

The Stake Presidency

Email to Richard Pedersen about on our stake's plan to encourage all adults to participate in the Self-Reliance Personal Finances course

Hello, my friend…

First, let me say your presentation was TERRIFIC! It was a great idea to bring in your missionary “reinforcements.” All of you did an outstanding job!

As to your question, I felt you explained very well as to how the Self-Reliance Initiative can work into our ministering efforts. The ongoing survey results are also extremely compelling.

One of the draw backs you’re facing is that everyone is trying to tie their program or initiative into ministering right now. For instance, at the request of the mission president, we conducted a special meeting inJune with all Ward Council members, full-time missionaries and the mission president in trying to emphasize the importance of engaging the full-time missionaries in our ministering (you’d think it would be a natural thing to use these “set apart ministers,” but they’re often overlooked). Furthermore, we tried to encourage EQ and RS presidents to assume more leadership for the ward missionary work in conjunction with the Ward Mission Leader.

The feedback from the meeting was, in short, it’s too much! "We’re still trying to get our arms around this and you’re already placing more layers onto the ministering program.”

So you’re definitely on the right track, but candidly you’re competing with a lot of other similar voices.

I wasn’t going to say anything to you until we’ve tried it, but we’re still VERY committed to Self-Reliance in our stake, even though our numbers after the first round have not been impressive. We’re rolling out a variation of the Self-Reliance Initiative next month with an emphasis to ask every adult in our stake to take the Personal Finances course.

The two documents attached will give you an overview of what we hope to do. We, of course, don’t know if it’ll work (hence I didn’t want to tell you about it until we’ve tried), but our hope is that more members in our stake will participate and catch the vision of how Self-Reliance can make a difference. 

The statistics you’ve shared with us are so compelling, like you said in our meeting, there’s absolutely nothing we’re doing in the Church right now that has generated this kind of change in the lives of people. So we’re "going for broke" to see if we can change the attitude about Self-Reliance in our stake. We hope it’s not wrong to vary the program a little (i.e. replace the devotional with a 3rd hour meeting for all adults in every ward).

We’ve already announced to bishops and ward leaders that we plan to take their 3rd hour on Sept. 16 in a special combined meeting for all adults and to please plan accordingly.

We’d appreciate you not sharing this with others until we’ve tested it.

We appreciate so much your ongoing support. We’ll keep you posted on how it plays out. And, of course, we welcome your counsel if you have any concerns.

Gratefully,

Crismon

Clarifying the summer camp funding policy with our Stake Finance Clerkr

Brother (Name),

Thank you for how well you watch over the Lord’s funds coming and going in our stake. You’re amazing in how you carefully watch every dime, for which we are most grateful.

Pr Christiansen and I had a little visit today about the matter you raised with me: do we or don’t we charge full price to YW from other stakes who want to attend our Stake YW Camp?

As I pondered this after our visit, there are two factors that I feel are very important to me:

1) I truly don’t believe we’ll have a flood of girls wanting to attend our camp. While, to us, the subsidized $50 fee is a bargain, to families and even the YW it’s really not a bargain (probably why I’ve never had any parent in our stake express to me their thanks for our summer camp subsidies over the years). I believe it’s because other stakes hold fundraisers so in the end their YW Camp doesn’t cost families anything. So our $50 fee really won’t be very attractive. In the case of the Carpenter girls I believe they simply wanted to be with their close friends in the WH Ward.

2) These are the Lord’s funds and we want to bless as many of His covenant children (members) wherever we can as long as we have sufficient funds. The Lord has blessed us with a miracle of ongoing surpluses in the stake and wards, I believe because of our policy to eliminate fundraising as taught by the Brethren. 

So I’d like us to subsidize ALL YW who attend the Stake YW Camp—members, past stake members and even non-members, as our policy currently stands. 

We’ll look to you to alert us if our funds become dangerously low and we need to alter the policy. But for now, would you please “charge” the wards $50 per girl regardless.

Thanks again for all you do to watch over these sacred funds with such care.

Crismon

No stake subsidies for summer camps in 2019 beyond the stake Trek

Bishops and Branch Presidents,

As we announced earlier, the Trek next summer (July 23-27, 2019) will be the only summer camp experience the stake will subsidize in 2019. There will not be a Stake YW Camp. In 2019. 

Our hope is that there will be no cost to families for the 2019 Stake Trek.

However, it doesn’t mean wards or branches can’t hold your own youth summer camps or attend a BSA camp, if you choose to do so.

As you can see below, the Cascade Council is providing a number of Scout Camp opportunities designed specifically for LDS troops (boys only). They’re even offering a financial incentive for us to sign up before Sept. 1 of this year.

As soon as we finalize the budgeting for the 2019 Stake Trek (hopefully by September), we will notify you of the extra funding you should receive in 2019. Hopefully it means your quarterly budget allocation in 2019 will be closer to a 65-35% or even 70-30% ward-stake split because of the stake summer camp subsidy savings to be realized in 2019.

If you choose to provide additional summer camp experiences in 2019—i.e. BSA camp, high adventure, maybe even an abbreviated YW Camp-type experience in addition to the stake trek—we strongly encourage you to use some or all of the additional funding you receive in 2019 to subsidize the cost families pay. You decide how much the subsidy will be. 

We remind you that our stake policy does not allow for any fundraising led by stake or ward leaders. It is the responsibility of parents to teach their children how to earn or raise money.

Feel no obligation to provide any additional summer camp opportunities for your youth in 2019. We feel the trek experience will be adequate for all youth 12-18 years of age. We are also mindful of the time and resources the trek will place on youth leaders.

If you have any questions, feel free to respond privately to this email.

Gratefully,

The Stake Presidency

P.S. As a recap, we remind you that there will be NO stake subsidies for summer camps in 2019 as those funds will be needed to (1) cover the cost of the stake Trek and (2) share with wards to provide a subsidy for additional ward youth summer activities, if you choose. If you choose not to hold an additional ward summer camp experience, then you the extra funds will roll into your ward budget.

LETTER FROM THE BSA CASCADE COUNCIL:

All,

The council is making a full-court press to get all local Troops to attend one of our council camps this next summer.  Since we anticipate the camps filling up, Matt Devore asked that I please get word to all of the LDS units to give them an opportunity to sign up for their choice of summer camp before the reservations fill up.

Couple Considerations:

1.  2018 Rates.  All reservations made before the 1st of September will be at 2018 rates.

2.  LDS Camp/Youth Conference.  We have one LDS stake that is considering taking over one of our camps the week of June 24 - 29 for a combination Scout Camp with Young Women, Youth Conference activities and a dance on the following weekend.  If any of you are interested in participating in this Scout Camp/Youth Conference opportunity, please let me know right away.

Summer 2019 Camp Availability Schedule:

Boy only and LDS Weeks:

- June 30-July 6, Camp Pioneer

- July 7-13, Camp Meriwether

- July 15-20, Camp Pioneer (Monday Start)

- July 21-27, Camp Meriwether (Monday Start)

- July 28-Aug 3, Camp Baldwin

- Aug 5-10, Camp Baldwin (Monday Start)

- Aug 11-17, Camp Pioneer

LDS units are always welcome to come up to camp on Monday and there are additional weeks in the schedule that have plenty of room at this point for an entire stake reservation.  We have several stakes that are camping as a group in 2019 to take advantage of leadership depth and to run stake activities and AP firesides, etc.  Please contact Todd McDonald at the Scout Office directly if you would like to put together a special stake program during one of the 2019 camp weeks.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions I can get answers for.

Thank you!

Spencer B. Young

503-964-4085

Update on ward-branch financing in 2018-19

Dear Bishops and Branch Presidents,

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we have transitioned this year to a new approach to finances.

For years wards and branches in our stake have received a set amount of money decided by the stake president; usually based on the ward’s size in relation to other units in the stake.

Leaders liked it because you could count on, even budget, a set income each quarter. The downside was that over time the amount a unit received often failed to reflect changes in size and sacrament meeting attendance.

As you know, the Church allocates a generous budget allowance to each stake based on sacrament meeting attendance. The stake then allocates the funds to cover the stake and ward budgets.

This year we are transitioning quarterly allocations from an arbitrary amount, set by the stake president, to an allocation ratio that more closely reflects the dynamics of sacrament meeting attendance in each ward.

Currently 60% of the funds we receive are distributed among the wards and branches, and 40% is retained by the stake That 40% includes the $15-$19K that is earmarked to subsidize summer camp fees to accomplish two major objectives: 

(1) reduce the financial burden on families in hopes they’ll encourage their children to take advantage of these wonderful, testimony-strengthening summer camp experiences; and... 

(2) avoid fundraising as encouraged in the Handbook (why? the purpose of the Church and leaders is to teach the gospel, not teach youth how to raise money—a responsibility that rests with parents).

By following that direction, we have seen a miracle in our stake. We have been able to reduce the cost of summer camps to $50 per youth ($100 for the expensive Boy Scout camps) to all families in our stake. And we’ve even been able to extend that same benefit to non-members. At the same time, every ward and branch continues to have a surplus at the end of the year. It’s a miracle not unlike the widow of Zarephath!

The transition this year from an arbitrary budget amount to an allocation that reflects sacrament meeting attendance in your ward or branch is the next step in aligning our finances with the Brethren’s guidance. However, it affects your ability to budget far in advance.

We will send you in a subsequent, personal email a spreadsheet created by Stake Clerk Bud Koch in conjunction with Stake Finance Clerk Steve Lowder for your ward or branch showing you what your “final” budget allocation looks like for 2018 as compared to the funds you received in 2017. We are able to give you final totals for 2018 because the allocation is based on sacrament meeting attendance in your ward or branch of the previous two quarters.

In other words, your 3Q budget allocation (i.e. income) is based on attendance that you reported on your Quarterly Report for 1Q. and Your 4Q budget allocation is based on your 2Q average attendance.

We favor this form of allocating budget funds for several reasons: 

(1) it allows you to control your own “financial destiny” so to speak rather than be at the discretion of the stake president; 

(2) it provides more transparency in how funds are allocated (“we’re all in this together”); and, most importantly...

(3) it constantly reminds all of us of the importance of preparing spiritually uplifting sacrament meeting programs and adds another layer of focus in our ministering efforts to fellowship new investigators, retain new converts and reach out to less-actives.

From the stake perspective, it allows us to set goals on how to more effectively utilize these sacred funds to bless members and move forward the Work of Salvation. We believe funds are best spent at the ward/branch level, not at the stake level. So it gives us an incentive to find ways to move more funds to you.

For instance, our first goal is to review the stake budget and, if possible, move the allocation from a 60% (ward) to 40% (stake) ratio to a 65% (ward) - 35% (stake) ratio in 2019. Our long-term goal is to ultimately reach a 70% (ward) - 30% (stake) ratio and still provide summer camp subsidies.

A couple of factors may help this happen: 

(1) the stake trek will replace most, if not all, summer camp subsidies next year (though we still must save about $10K in 2018 to fully fund the trek); 

(2) the elimination of the expensive Boy Scout camps in 2020 will reduce the amount of total stake subsidy for summer camps.

We will also “sharpen our pencil” on the number and cost of stake activities and programs in hopes we can free up more funds for the wards and branches,

Above all, we want you to know how grateful we are for your willingness to adapt through the years to the financing policies. Your faithfulness and careful use of Church funds has literally worked a miracle in our stake.

With deep admiration and appreciation,

The Stake Presidency

P.S. We will send you two subsequent emails—one with the spreadsheet showing your total allocation for 2018 and how it compares to last year; the second will contain an explanation on how your ward or branch leaders can subsidize some summer camps in 2019, if you choose, since the stake will not be subsidizing any summer camps next summer because most funds will be used in support of the Stake YMYW Trek in 2019.