Summer 2016 – July Newsletter

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Greetings to all,

I am fresh off the ship (airplane) from a visit to Germany to stand where

our ancestors Jerusalem Congregation was founded in Augsburg and the

most gracious Franke Foundation. The trip was fantastic and I wish

you all could have attended. We are putting together a powerpoint type

program in the future for all of those with questions.

I want to thank all of those who attended the Landing Day

Meeting. There was not as many people this year as in the past and

that meant more of the chicken rice soup served by the WELCA ladies

of Jerusalem for me to eat. You really missed a treat as it was really,

really good. The soup is a good addition to have a quick easy lunch

before the meeting that I hope becomes a tradition. If our ancestors

first soup meal was as tasty as ours I can understand why they stayed.

As an update on the Georgia History Core Standards, we were

successful in getting the word “Salzburgers” back in for now. It is amaz-
ing how one word can have so much impact on our children’s education

for what is taught as a standard and what isn’t.

Another note on our society’s financial health. We have had

more people join or rejoin as members and for that I thank you. This

balances our losses of all those dear members who have passed away

during this last year. So our net total is up a small amount. We are still

running a negative balance to meet our budget needed for each year. To

make things balance, we used funds from our endowment investment

gains. We need to approach a more fiscally prudent budget in the near

future if our donations to the yearly budget do not improve. A small

gift of $10-$20 from each member (life especially as our membership is

currently 80-90% life members) would make the difference between

doing well or being severely restricted in our programs. So if you are

able, please make a small donation toward keeping the society healthy.

Simultaneously, we are trying to boost the income from the “Life fund”

(where the life membership funds are invested). The constraints on this

fund when originally set up restrict investments to bonds, CDs, etc. that

are very sound. Today these investments have very low yields or

returns – look at your bank savings returns as an example. This is what

has lowered the Society’s funding since approximately 2009. This is

why we are cutting expenses while asking for donations to get us

through this investment period and on sound financial footing.

We have a great program planned for Heritage Day on

September 5th. Please bring all your neighbors and children. See you

there.

Thank you for allowing me to serve you,

Gary Nizzi