Tennis anyone? The picture below shows the result of several days of very heavy late season rainfall. It has been years since I have seen the adjacent tennis courts flooded and the standing water lasted for several days. We are now in the final weeks of our rainy season which officially ends in late October. You may have noticed a slight change in
the air over the past couple of days where temperatures dipped into the upper 60s at night and stayed below 90 for daytime highs with noticeably lower humidity. I for one, look forward to the cooler weather.
Effective July 1, we have opened a “box office” in the Parish Life Center. Tickets to our numerous events will no longer be sold at the reception desk in the front office. Instead, tickets will be sold in a converted office immediately through the double doors leading to the classroom wing. If they choose, representatives from each particular ministry hosting events will offer hours of operation in which they will be present to sell tickets. We will publish these hours in the parish bulletin. You WILL NOT be able to purchase tickets at the front desk. On certain occasions, tickets will be sold outside of Mass for your favorite events.
In the very near future, you will be able to use your credit card to make purchases in the Religious Gift Shop. In addition, you will be able to use a credit card to purchase Mass intentions at the front office. These will be direct point of purchase transactions and run through terminals which will be located in the front office and gift shop. The terminals have actually already arrived, however, we are dealing with connectivity problems which is causing a short delay. I will let you know when everything is up and running. We are optimistic that the option of a credit card will make it easier for you to purchase items in the gift shop or schedule a Mass.
Did you know that we have a new manager for the Religious Gift Shop? Marianne Brooks retired in June after doing a magnificent job for several years. Jackie Gibson has taken over the helm and is making a drastic transformation. Jackie owned and operated a Hallmark store in Allen Park, Michigan for 33 years. She brings with her a plethora of experience in merchandising and the results are already evident. Jackie has contracted with Dayspring (Hallmark card vendor) to offer a complete line of cards for any occasion – religious or not. Upcoming improvements to the gift shop include a new exterior window which allow parishioners a glance in the shop when closed. Jackie will also paint the shop and replace many of the old display cases with newer more appropriate fixtures. As a result of the improved product lines, gift shop revenue has been up over 35% compared to last year during the first three months of our fiscal year.
Last weekend was the first since the end of season (May 15) that we met our weekly operating budget. As a matter of fact, this usually does not happen until the first weekend in November. This past weekend we recognized a 15% increase over the same weekend last year. As I am sure you have read in past editions of Scott’s Corner, we generally operate in the red seven out of twelve months. If this is an early indicator, we may be able to shave a month off of that statistic this fiscal year. Thank you to all of our parishioners for your incredible generosity.
We are only $109,000.00 shy of our goal for the 2012 Catholic Faith appeal with just under three months to go. We remain $20,000.00 ahead of where we were at this same point last year. Considering that we fell short last year by $23,000.00, I am overly optimistic that this year we will meet with success. For our seasonal residents and visitors returning, please remember to make your check payable to the Catholic Faith Appeal with St. John the Evangelist in the memo line. Thank you in advance for supporting the Catholic Faith Appeal, the most important component of our operating budget.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager