When the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem sponsored
Partners for Sacred Places’ New Dollars/New Partners
for Your Sacred Place training program in the spring
of 2010, St. Luke’s was one of the first congregations
to express interest. The program, Father D’Angio
thought, would be a perfect opportunity to build upon
the church’s recent success and expand its outreach
efforts. Ultimately, New Dollars/New Partners prompted
members of the St. Luke’s team to think creatively
about how the parish could partner with other
institutions and better serve its community.
However, it was another component of the training
that proved to be an especially valuable part of St.
Luke’s’ New Dollars/New Partners experience: how to
identify and develop prospective donors. Through
hands-on demonstrations and role-playing exercises,
participants were coached in finding and engaging with
potential donors.
“New Dollars/New Partners gives you hope.
You never know what’s going to happen.
When things look bleak, there may be people
watching you that can offer time, talents, or
treasure.”
The Reverend Peter D’Angio, Trinity Episcopal
This aspect of the training proved to be timely becasue
Father D’Angio had recently made an unexpected
contact with a potential donor. In 2008, a former
parishioner who had grown up in Scranton found St.
Luke’s website and reached out to the rector – his first
communication with the parish in almost 60 years. Now
living in Florida, the former parishioner had attended
the church as a child and sang in its choir in the 1950s.
Though he had long since moved on, he warmly recalled
the church-going days of his youth, which had inspired
him to become a church organist. His relationship
wtih St. Luke’s grew very close throughout the ensuing
months, and for his Scranton “homecoming” a few
months later, he visited the church and played the
organ for a Sunday service.
Just before the congregation participated in the New )