Beloved members and friends of Foundry,

A few weeks ago, things were looking good for a safe, responsible return to in-person worship and Sunday School for our entire Foundry family. We still plan to gather in person for worship on September 5, but unfortunately, the Delta variant of Covid-19 has caused us to modify our plans.

Masks will be required for both the 9:00 and 11:15 services. We will encourage physical distancing within the sanctuary, making the best use of spacing as individuals and family/friend groupings arrive and are seated. Ushers will be available to assist with this placement.

Child care

Child care will be available for children under the age of 5 during worship. All child care staff and volunteers will be vaccinated and trained in safety protocols.

A “Family Zone” will be created in the sanctuary, with items to support families and their children who are aged five years and older. These children will be required to remain with their family cluster for the entire length of the service. A children’s message will be included in the regular order of service with one of our pastors moving from the chancel to the Family Zone to safely share time with our children. 

Sunday School

No Sunday School will be offered for children or adults until we can safely manage hybrid learning (simultaneous in-person and virtual learning options) and care for the safety of our younger children who still don’t have the protection of a vaccine. These offerings will be made available when it is feasible to safely execute for each constituency.

We will identify alternative days/times (other than Sunday) for in-person and hybrid adult learning at Foundry, and will build child care requests into the registration process so that is not a barrier to participation. We will also continue offering a variety of virtual options for group study.

Parking

Negotiations continue with Colonial Parking as we seek to reestablish parking privileges that are reasonable to afford during the critical hours that Foundry participants occupy our building. We continue to monitor these negotiations and will advise of new parking rates as soon as possible. 

Music 

Members of our music ministry have been supporting Foundry’s Wednesday Evensong services over the past 7 weeks. The full choirs will resume rehearsals next week (August 21) in preparation for September when we will be blessed with the ministry of our Music Director and choirs in the sanctuary.  

Please know that our primary concern is for the health and safety of all who enter our building and gather to worship at Foundry, as well as the wellbeing of our neighbors and the communities where we live. We will get through this and turn the corner together with God’s grace and guidance. 

In the Spirit,

The Re-entry Implementation Task Force (Gwen Williamson, Nick Jessee, Matt Hansen, Sam Kilpatrick, Paula Blair, PJ Taylor, and Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli)