End of July
Dear friends and members of St. Matt’s,
Two important reminders from me today. First, thank you if you’ve already contributed to our gift for Sam. If you haven’t yet – there’s still time. You can make a gift online here (make sure to write “Sam’s gift” in the gift field). Or you can mail a check to the office or put a check in the plate on Sunday. Checks should have “Sam’s gift” in the memo line so we know what they’re for. You have until August 10th to give and then we’ll send Sam her gift. Thank you so much. I hope that all of you will join us on Sunday for worship and then for a festive coffee hour for Sam. This is her last week with us, so we have some gifts and some surprises for her. I know you’ll join me in thanking her and wishing her well with the big, wide heart of this community. Thank you.
And a mid-summer phishing reminder. Some of you have written to say that you’ve received yet another fraudulent email claiming to be from me. Unfortunately, this happens to clergy more and more often – and it’s specifically because God’s people are generous. So these scammers are getting the kinds of responses from people they want. So please – here is our standard list of phishing warnings, please take a look:
1) I will never email you from any address other than my St. Matthew’s address: [email protected]. If the message comes from anywhere else, you should disregard it. You can report it, delete it, and/or let me know about it. The first thing you should always do is check the email address used to send the message. If it doesn’t come from my stmatthewswilton.org address then it didn’t come from me. I will never email you from a different address.
2) I will also never ask you to do me a favor discreetly or to respond to something quickly and without calling me. If the language of the request seems strange, it probably is. When in doubt, always call and ask.
3) Requests for gift cards, say if we’re doing a collection for one of our mission partners, will always come through this e-enews. As will stewardship information. I will never ask you directly for money, gift cards, or favors of any kind.
4) In the last 12 months, this has happened several times to me. It’s also happened to one of our Wardens and a few other lay leaders. It happens to our Bishops and to clergy all over the church frequently. So please, be on your guard. You should never share personal or financial information of any kind online.
Please do reach out if you have any questions at all. I’m glad to talk more and help you in any way that I can. I’m so looking forward to seeing you on Sunday and to our celebration of Sam and her time with us. Until then, God loves you. And so do I.
Faithfully,
–Marissa +