The meeting was called to order at 7:12 by Anne Malmquist, Moderator.
Cabinet members in attendance: Anne Malmquist, Moderator; Nina Gabel-Jorgensen, Clerk; Natalie Muurisepp, Congregational Engagement; Stephanie Holmgren, Community Engagement; Patrick Donahue, Property and Finance; David Sheibley, Treasurer; Reverend Beth Stotts - Spiritual Engagement Team
Guests: Connie Chandler, Gail Wright, Lynn Pietras, Alison Devasto
Reverend Beth devotional and prayer
April Minutes approved.
Pastor Report
• Kids church Director determined June 14 last day of kid church
• Adult confirmation program next year 14 and over, classes on communion Sundays starting October 4 and last class on May 2nd. The reconfirmation ceremony will be on May 16. Deep dive and revisit faith.
• Reverend Andrew will preach five Sundays in the Summer. He will preach Pride Sunday, June 28.
• Altar picture on June 14th at Annual Meeting.
• Picnic table worship in Augusts except August 9th which will be the church baby Libby’s baptism
• Reverend Beth worked all her units already as of 5/20/2026. Advent and Lent will need to be pared down significantly. She needs to take more Sundays off. Discussion about what was learned this first year and ¾ time and what we can do differently going forward. She was supposed to have coverage for 12 Sundays. Only 4 Sundays were covered.
• We have two new members
• We will be having a Church directory again - October 12th.
Treasurer’s Report
• Ok Month.
• May will be a good month, some of the end of April will carry over into May.
• On track if not a little bit better than budgeted
• Net loss as of the end of April is 12k. Probably will end up with a net loss of around 6k.
Community Engagement:
• Moonlight paint night was very successful.
• Will decorate the toilets/bathroom with the Moonlight paintings
• Pancake Supper made $300. 35 people. Natalie made the pancakes.
• The Pentecost offering is coming up next month.
Food Pantry
• No report this month as Jack was not available to provide a report.
• Anne followed up with Eric to see where they were in the new Food Pantry process. Still in a transition.
• Same amount of clients. Donations remain generous and on track.
• Idea floated to have Bridgewater Cable TV do a small piece on the Food Pantry.
Congregational Engagement
• Great time on Stewardship Sunday.
• Flowers for Easter were successful. The flower Vendor is great to work with. It was great to have so many flower options.
• 35 people came to the Potato event. There was a need for more food, especially sour cream and bacon.
• Discussion of Pie night and how to leverage it. One suggestion was to have a seasonal theme and have different pies dependent on the season.
Property and Finance
• Discussion of Annual budget at their last meeting.
• NRC will renew the lease. They will now inhabit the entire upper level. Discussion of increasing the rent. Consensus that the Agreement needs to be updated to include all rooms used. Patrick is going to follow up with John regarding the rent increase.
• Painting finished in the stairwell to the sanctuary.
• Plan to get the front walk finally repaired ASAP
Budget
• Need the actual pledges from the people who are already giving to the church.
• Discussion around the Fair and the line item in the budget. Question as to whether the Fair is moving forward or not and how that would impact our budget.
• The thrift shop is amazing.
• The Fundraisers were a bit short but we are finding our feet.
• More discussion around North River Collaborative and increasing their rent due to more space being utilized with lease renewal.
• Idea to sell pies via Facebook Marketplace on Pie Night. (Food is sold on FB Marketplace)
• Expense - 3% increase for all employees. Health Insurance is going up. Reverend Beth’s insurance has increased by $3,500..
• Oil, gas and electricity are going up.
• Our Investment accounts back up to where they were after taking out money.
• ¾ time discussion regarding Reverend Beth. As a congregation, we need to volunteer more. Need to do more to cover the Sundays she is off. There is talk about filling in for Reverend Beth and people who don’t want to come because she’s not there. There is some work to normalize folks stepping up to cover the absences. Reverend Beth loves her hospice job. However, she cannot work both in one day. She is still working on finding balance. The financial burden was hard at first. It’s important to hear other people in the pulpit and hear different perspectives. An important point was made that her 12 Sundays off need to be scheduled in advance with enough lead time so we can find substitutes. Anne Malmquist mentioned that it would be helpful to have a management role added to the Spiritual Engagement team.
• Discussion about possibly increasing Food Pantry funding to church. With the increase in National Grid rates and the freezers using a lot of electricity, it seems reasonable that we could request an increase in their donation. A fundraising coordinator is key.
Motion to accept the budget as presented with caveat that we revisit the NRC lease and include the Fair caveat that we will be short 7k if we don’t include it in the budget.
Patrick Donahue made the motion. Natalie Muurisepp seconded. All ayes, no opposed. Reverend Beth abstained.
Spiritual Engagement (see pastor report).
Annual Meeting
• Each team needs an annual report. All annual reports except the Moderator report.
• Nominations are on track and we may have enough people on the teams which is wonderful.
• Lynne Pietras asked about who the Food pantry serves, especially since members from the church come from other towns and wouldn’t be able to use it.
• People will not be turned away but only Bridgewater residents can use it.
The next meeting is June 17th. Note - issue from last year needs to be addressed. Calendering meeting. Reverend Beth is not available. Natalie Muurisepp will lead the devotional.
Adjourned at 8:28 p.m.
