Financial Stewardship enables RRUUC to adapt to unprecedented challenges, such as the COVID lockdown, and to continue to provide services to our members when we are most in need. In this video, two RRUUC members, Dave and Marcia Leonard, who have been our A/V heroes throughout the pandemic, give us their thoughts on the transition to online and hybrid services, and the importance of annual giving to those efforts. As a team, Dave and Marcia have worked tirelessly, with help from RRUUC staff, to bring you high quality Sunday services wherever you are. While many RRUUC congregants are choosing to return to the sanctuary for services, many continue to attend remotely.

This dual mode is our “new normal” and it has made it possible for River Road to expand our reach geographically, with active members now living in other states as far away as Florida and California, as well as England and Australia!

Thanks to River Road’s donors to annual giving in 2020, River Road had the financial means to vastly upgrade our audiovisual technology base, to enable us to continue to be together, albeit virtually, from the moment the COVID lockdown forced us to avoid congregating in person. With a substantial investment in new capabilities and the generosity and tireless volunteer efforts of the A/V team, River Road was able to transition quickly to hosting services online, from the sanctuary, via both Zoom and YouTube, along with social meetups and breakout groups on Zoom, with professionalism and polish.

This year, additional investment and upgrades set the “stage” for hybrid services, with a combination of live content and pre-recorded content, along with remote-live content streamed from the Fiatfalva Room enabling more COVID-safe options for music performances, all available simultaneously in-person in the sanctuary and online for folks to participate from home. Dave and Marcia Leonard didn’t just volunteer their time to make all this happen; they substantially increased their annual giving during the pandemic to support this important work.

Thanks to them and everyone whose support to annual giving helped to make this amazing transformation possible!