2 minute read
The Money Counting Ministry: Ensuring The Good Stewardship Of Our Treasure
Here at St. John Before the Latin Gate, we are blessed with a small, but very important ministry — a dedicated group of parishioners gathers every Wednesday afternoon to count the money that comes in each week through the collection. As they perform this essential task for our parish, the members of the Money Counting Ministry do their part to ensure the good stewardship of our treasure.
“I am sure most parishioners think that this is just a job that falls on the office staff, but this volunteer work is very important to help take a bit of the load off of them,” says Karen Franco, who has been involved in this ministry since 2014. “It is not a glamorous job and it all goes on behind closed doors, but it needs to be done.”
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Each person involved has a task and the other members verify one another’s work to ensure accuracy.One person counts the money in the envelopes, another counts the envelope checks, and the last counts the loose cash. There is also a cash counter to double-check counts. The information remains confidential, but collection totals are published in the bulletin. This ministry takes around 45 minutes to one hour each week.
(From left) Karen Franco, Pat Gray, Loretta Blizzard; (seated) Joel Esslinger
“I think that anything that we are able to do for the church when we can volunteer our time and talents, brings us closer to Christ,” Karen says.
Being involved in the small-business side of this ministry has come naturally to Karen.
“I worked in and owned a retail store in the area for 20 years,” she says. “I am retired now, but I also work in and manage the church gift shop.”
God blesses us all with many talents and abilities. In turn, our church communities benefit greatly when we use these talents for the betterment of our parishes. As Karen notes, in the seven years she has been involved with this ministry, it has consisted of the same three parishioners with one alternate. The parish is hoping to add new volunteers and have them serve on a rotating basis in order to enrich the Money Counting Ministry.
“It is a big commitment to be here every week and we have talked about adding more members to help ease some of that commitment,” Karen says. “I’m sure most people don’t even know that our ministry exists, but it is very important work.”
