'Constructive Protest' Launches UTO Drive
Episcopal News Service. February 5, 1987 [87030]
NEW YORK (DPS, Feb. 5) -- "In Thanksgiving for the gifts of Independence, Loyalty, Determination, Love and Joy that God in His Grace has given me and to other women as well," Carol Toombs of Rye, N.Y., has presented $25,000 to the Memorial and Gift Fund of the United Thank Offering.
Toombs, who served as IOTo Treasurer for the Diocese of New York from 1980-1986, was deeply disturbed by the news that the UTO Committee had decided to set aside $1 million from the 1986, 1987 and 1988 Offerings to build up the principal of the Fund, which covers national committee expenses and interpretive materials.
Traditionally, all the money given in to the Offerings has been granted to projects benefiting the poor and needy at home and abroad. Last year, 138 projects received $2,115,073.86 in grants.
Toombs felt it "unconscionable," however, that money should be transferred from the Blue Boxes of "rich and poor alike" when there are "those of us who can do more."
Therefore, as a kind of constructive protest, she made her gift and issued a challenge: "I do not believe that I am the only rich woman who cares about UTO...I think we, as a group, have the capacity to raise $25,000 from each of ten women. I further think we can raise $10,000 from each of ten women and $5,000 from each of ten women and probably $1,000 from another 25."
Betty Clarke, Province V chairwoman of UTO and chairwoman of the Memorial and Gift Trust Fund, said, "The generous gift of Carol Toombs is the challenge needed to convince others of the long-range benefits of this fund." The fund must be large enough so that its investment income will cover the expenses of the UTO Committee, which is composed of volunteers who have national obligations in both the administrative and granting process; and will meet the cost of producing a variety of UTO materials which are sent to all parishes, free.
The goal is $1 million by the July 1988 Triennial, which marks the kickoff to preparations for the UTO's 100th birthday in 1989. Since the Fund was established at Triennial 1982, however, private contributions to the principal have totaled about $23,000.
It is clear that due to rising costs attributed to inflation and decreasing income attributed not only to declining interest rates but also disinvestment of Church funds in South Africa, an endowment of well over $1 million will be necessary. 'With the guidance of expert financial planners," chairman Lyn Johnson wrote to the UTO network in September, "we have come to recognize that the set-aside is the quickest and surest way to return wholly to the special tradition of the Offering that 'every coin given is, in turn, granted. "Moreover, if the Fund's earnings outstrip expenses, the "overflow" will be used to supplement grants for mission from the Offerings.
Meanwhile, Toombs has gone even further for 7TRO. She has given a separate gift to the ECW Board of the Diocese of New York, to ensure that all diocesan UTO costs will be covered -- everything from Triennial travel expenses for the UTO treasurer to individual mailings to parish custodians.
Toombs has a long history of service to church and community in New York. She moved into the diocese in 1953; while a student at Sarah Lawrence College, she chaired the Young Episcopalians. A member of Christ Church, Rye, since 1959, and a volunteer mental health worker at New York Hospital in White Plains, she was also a member of the Rye Human Rights Commission from 1965-1985 and a member of the Rye City Board of Education from 1974-1984.
She served on the ECW Board of the Diocese of New York from 1977-1986 and was an ECW delegate to three Triennials. A year ago, Bishop Paul Moore appointed her as a member of the diocesan Commission on the Ministry of Women.
Contributions to the UTO Memorial and Gift Trust Fund can be made in the form of bequests, insurance policies or direct gifts of cash or securities. If you wish to create a perpetual memorial to a loved one or to recognize someone you honor, you may send your gift or write to The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, UTO Fund #852, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For further information, write or call Betty Clarke, 2645 Bexley Park Road, Columbus, OH 43209; (614) 236-1981.