Members of the Newton Highlands Congregational Church, UCC, Mission Committee convened on September 17, 2025, on Zoom, to review their budget and begin planning for the new church year.
Holly Grieb, co-chair, led the meeting. Other attendees were Rich Bryden, Melissa Dietrich, Marianne Louderback, Peter Moore, Marian Reynolds, Kitty Rieske, co-chair, and Lynn Scheller. The Reverend Ken Baily and Sally Brickell, vice moderator, came as guests of the committee.
Ms. Grieb explained that of the committee’s $60,000 annual budget (ten percent of the church’s budget), about $14,000 falls under discretionary. Committee members discussed moving some of their regular giving out of discretionary and into the budgeted column to make their donations more visible to the congregation and to allow more predictablity for the nonprofits they consistently support.
Ms. Grieb recapped some of the results from the committee’s spring 2025 survey and suggested that more education about which nonprofits the church supports and why would benefit the congregation.
The group agreed to begin the year with a collection of blankets and towels for Welcome Home in October, with support from Ms. Brickell. They also discussed providing Thanksgiving meals for Brighton Allston Congregational Church, UCC, through a connection of the Reverend Baily, since Newton Food Pantry is not accepting homemade food.