Recently released federal information reveals that Grace Episcopal Alexandria received a Paycheck Protection Program loan in 2020 in the amount of $107.794. The issuer was Truist Bank, aka BB&T, the same bank that extended a PPP loan to Grace Episcopal School.
Under the federal program, eligible organizations can borrow up to 2.5 months’ of total payroll costs. Thus, at the time of the loan, the church would have had annualized payroll costs of $517,411. While this is a marked decrease from the $650,000 annual payroll costs during the latter years of perjuring priest Bob Malm’s tenure, with annual pledge and plate revenue now down to $816,100, annual payroll and building operation and maintenance expenses consume just shy of $700.000 of that sum. Throw in annual loan payments from the HVAC debacle of $70K, and even with the income from the trust and cost sharing with the school, there is not a whole lot left over.
Moreover, with the aging demographics of the parish, the fallout from perjuring priest Bob Malm’s misconduct and that of several church members, and the fact that the pandemic will get far worse before it gets better, things surely are not looking good for the parish. And that is the case even with several recent generous bequests that the church has received.