SPECIAL ISSUE to:
SIM BOARD MEMBERS
$18.57 CIRCLE OF SEMINARIAN FRIENDS RECEIVES ANONYMOUS DONATION
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Dear SIM Board Members:
This is a Press Release that is being released today. I wanted to share the news with you, as well:
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The Society for the Increase of the Ministry (SIM) has received an anonymous donation to join the $18.57 Circle of Seminarians Friends. With this contribution the donor proclaimed, "To show my enthusiastic endorsement of SIM's new program-the $18.57 Circle of Seminarians Friends - I am joining not for the conventional $18.57 per month but for a year of $1,857 per month-$22,284! The seminarian debt situation is unacceptable. I honestly believe the $18.57 Circle of Seminarians Friends' goal of eliminating the need for seminarian debt is achievable. I want others to join with me and tackle this problem. Together we can do it!"
Episcopal seminarians, as those of other denominations, are carrying more seminary debt than ever before. While theological education costs are rising, sources of traditional funding are diminishing. SIM has partially filled that increasing gap but needs greater awareness and participation from all Episcopalians to free future ordained leaders from debt loads debilitating to one's ministry and personal life. SIM offers financial support through grants and scholarships and pastoral and advocacy support to women and men studying for the ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church.
The $18.57 Circle of Seminarian Friends offers Episcopalians the opportunity to "invest in future ordained leaders to serve The Episcopal Church." "Our goal has remained true to our founding charter in 1857: 'to find suitable persons for the Episcopal ministry and aid them in acquiring a thorough education," said Thomas Moore, SIM's Executive Director. "This remarkable gift, a full year of year of $1,857 per month ($22,284), mirrors the vision and commitment upon which SIM was founded in 1857."
"If Episcopalians truly realized that seminarian debt loads impact the personal lives of priests well beyond their seminary years negatively affecting their ministries, we would realize how investing only $18.57 per month could mean so much to the future of the Church," added the anonymous donor. "God calls leaders today as God has done throughout Salvation History. I am grateful for SIM's ministry of making answering those calls more viable for over 150 years.""For all who have joined the $18.57 Circle of Seminarians Friends and for all of our donors and supporters, SIM and our seminarians are deeply grateful," Mr. Moore said. For more information or to join SIM's $18.57 Circle of Seminarian Friends, visit SIM's website at www.simministry.org and click on the Donate Online page or view our video at YouTube at SIMministry1 or by clicking on this button: 
Donors may sign up for any amount of their choosing.
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Board Members:
Thank you for your important role in our BOLD effort.
Faithfully,
Tom Moore
Executive Director
SIM
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