Attendees at the January 2023 Plymouth Annual Meeting may remember that that meeting marked the beginning of Plymouth’s new “Fiscal Committee”, a merger of the formerly separate Finance and Investment Committees. We have been working hard since that date, with committee members Mark Sandstrom (Chair, as Church Council Treasurer), Dorothy Mann, Kael Sherrard, Robin DeCook, Dave Koeger, Marcia Almquist, Al Bentley, and Robert Neer. 

One of our key functions is to administer the “Community Investment” loans made from Plymouth’s Endowment Fund assets. There are currently four community recipients of loans, and the Fiscal Committee has been meeting with each organization, one per monthly meeting. Our first loan review meeting this past spring was with the Homestead Community Land Trust  led by Kathleen Hosfeld, a name familiar to some of you from her other interactions with Plymouth over recent years. 

Kathleen gave us an impressive presentation about Homestead’s work, which helps finance home ownership loans to buyers who cannot qualify under standard mortgage lending practices. Homestead has enjoyed many years of successful growth, and showed us documentation of both sound business practices and innovative thinking. Plymouth’s investment in Homestead now totals $418,730 and the Fiscal Committee enthusiastically extended their loan term one additional year, into the 3rd quarter of 2024. 

I will write about other Community Investments soon, keep reading your Herald! 

Mark Sandstrom 

Treasurer