Dear Fellow Laborers in the Vineyard:

The Council of Presbytery of Los Ranchos held a special called meeting yesterday morning via Zoom. At that meeting, the Council took the following actions on behalf of the Presbytery, in accordance with Section 7.1 of the Standing Rules:

1. AUTHORIZE the Strategic Coordinating Team to APPROVE ALL APPLICATIONS from congregations for COVID-19 related grants from the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii.

(Secretary’s Note: The Synod has made available up to $150,000 per presbytery to assist its member presbyteries during the financial emergency. Action #1 authorizes the SCT to review congregational applications that might be suited to the use of these funds).

2. AUTHORIZE the Strategic Coordinating Team to APPROVE ALL APPLICATIONS from congregations for Emergency Grants from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

3. AUTHORIZE THE ALLOCATION of $500,000 in aid (grants) to churches in the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, to be administered by the Strategic Coordinating Team; funds to be sourced from uncommitted 2020 SCT budget (as determined by the SCT), and supplemented as necessary from investment cash reserves.

(Secretary’s Note to Items #1-3: Please note that Actions #1-3 do not constitute an instruction to the SCT to approve all applications. They simply give SCT the authority to exercise final judgment regarding requests for assistance).

4. APPROVE ALL APPLICATIONS from congregations for the Paycheck Protection Program of the Small Business Administration through the CARES Act.

(Secretary’s Note: This action is provided strictly as a procedural support. It means that any application for the Paycheck Protection Program by a church in Los Ranchos Presbytery will automatically have the Presbytery’s support).

5. EXECUTE a Presbytery-wide communication (follow-up email) to all churches, describing additional actions being taken by Presbytery in the interest of providing emergency aid to churches on an as-needed basis, including especially mention of the $500K aid (per #3 above) set aside for said purpose, as well as urgent guidance and assistance to churches in applying for additional federal aid (CARES Act).

The above notice is in fulfillment of Action Item #5 above.

Please watch for forthcoming information from the Strategic Coordinating Team on how Items #1-3 will be implemented.

Sincerely,

Forrest Claassen

Council Secretary