Timely Preparation
Board of Trustees’ Report – 2024 Annual Meeting
Judy Olson, President | Beacon Haven Board of Trustees
On behalf of our Board of Trustees, I’d like to say welcome to you all, to Beacon Haven’s 2024 Annual Meeting. I am Judy Olson, and I’m glad to be sharing this year’s Board report.
Today, we are concluding our year-long centennial celebration—one hundred years of providing a haven for spiritual healing for the Midwest Christian Science field.
Our history as a Christian Science care facility began with the establishment of Star of Bethlehem Home in St. Louis Park, MN. The Star of Bethlehem was the first Christian Science care facility outside of the Boston area. The building, in fact, is still functioning today as a housing co-op that also recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, which included recognizing their beginning as a Christian Science care facility. Our Administrator, Bonnie Fanz, and Board member, Bruce Richardson, attended the celebration.
As we begin our second century of ministry, we are reminded of our Leader’s words in Miscellaneous Writings: “Whatever changes come to this century,…we may safely submit to the providence of God….” Providence is the protective care of God. Providence also means “timely preparation.”
“Whatever changes come to this century …,
we may safely submit to the providence of God,…”
Over the past four years we have told you about the five-year grant that we received that has enabled us to pay our Christian Science nurses a living wage. This grant has been deeply appreciated, but it is now due to end in March 2026 and we were informed recently that it is not renewable. It’s important here to note, that the largest operating expense in the Beacon Haven budget goes to paying wages for Christian Science Nurses. In fact this one essential expense is six times greater than all our building expenses combined.
So our Board has been devoting a good deal of prayer to maintaining our nurses’ wages at an equitable standard as 2026 approaches. One particularly practical—and we think doable—idea has come to us. In preparation for this financial transition away from the funds provided by the grant, Board members are inviting you to join us in a centennial pledge to Beacon Haven of $8.33/ month for one year. This would result in each individual donating an additional $100 for the year, in honor of our first 100 years of ministry.
Thanks to a generous individual donation as well as to additional donations from Board members past and present, we are able to match your donations, up to a $10,000. Consequently, one hundred donors giving $8.33/ month will effectively result in $20,000 being contributed to Beacon Haven.
If you are a current donor, we ask that you consider increasing your donation this year by $100 by using a recurring monthly pledge of $8.33/month or any other pledge schedule that works for you.
If you are a new donor please join us in this centennial pledge. Your individual gift, large or small, backed by the matching funds, will continue to make our ministry possible.
CLICK HERE to make your centennial pledge today and help keep Beacon Haven open and ready.
Another opportunity “for timely preparation“ to support our Christian Science nurses is through planned giving.
For many of us, a planned gift will be in the form of an estate gift, or a gift we make through our wills. We just received notice this fall that Beacon Haven will receive a generous estate gift from a supporter of Christian Science nursing who lived in Ohio. This blessing will contribute to our ongoing work to keep our Christian Science nursing ministry open and ready.
The ‘timely preparation’ expressed through the many estate and other planned gifts given to our ministry over the past century continue to support this ministry every day. Their planned gifts helped provide the bricks and mortar for the building we use today. Their planned gifts helped provide the investments for the endowment that today fully funds the cost to support a full time Christian Science nurse every year.
The planned gifts each of us make will also contribute to this lasting legacy to support something we care about.
Donors can specify how their planned gifts should be used, and donors can always update those instructions as needs and priorities change. As you think about how you want to include Beacon Haven and Christian Science nursing in your estate planning, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
A planned gift “preparation” allows each of us to make a gift that we might not have otherwise been able to make in our lifetimes; but through that planned gift, we can add to a legacy that secures and sustains a future for something we care deeply for today.
This annual report wouldn’t be complete without recognizing and expressing gratitude for two means of provision that have come our way this past year. Beacon Haven was recognized by the Moller Foundation, a philanthropic trust based in Michigan. The Moller foundation did a site visit, which was attended by two of our Board members, and after seeing our facility and meeting our staff, they chose to give Beacon Haven a $33,000 grant that we are hopeful will be repeated annually.
Another unexpected blessing was a generous donation to our Christian Science nurses’ training program by Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Minneapolis to help continue Christian Science nurses training through our Pathways Plan.
Before closing, I’d like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to Mark Chichester. Mark is stepping down from the Board of Trustees after 4 years of dedicated work. Thank you, Mark, for your service, camaraderie, and friendship. And we’d like to say welcome to Rebecca Bryden who presented the wonderful readings to open our annual meeting. Rebecca, welcome aboard. We look forward to working with you, and we so appreciate your willingness to serve Beacon Haven in this capacity.
Now I’ll turn the meeting over to the Treasurer’s Report for a detailed view of how your donations help to keep Beacon Haven open and ready. Our Board Vice President, Bruce Richardson will present this report.
CLICK HERE to see the 2024 Annual Meeting Treasurer’s Report
Benediction for the close of the 2024 Annual Meeting
Thank you for joining us this afternoon. To close our centennial celebration
I am reminded of Mrs Eddy’s words in Ret./Intro.
“In the 1st century of the Christian era Jesus’ teachings bore much fruit and the Father was glorified therein. In this period and the forthcoming centuries, watered by dews of divine Science, this ‘tree of life’ will blossom into greater freedom, and its leaves will be ‘for the healing of the nations.’”
Beacon Haven has an invaluable role to fill in advancing the healing mission of Christian Science, both now and in the years to come.
