Denver church challenged by relief fund delays [Video]

DENVER — Trinity United Methodist Church has been a focal point of downtown Denver since 1859. In order to keep serving the community for another century and a half, leadership said it needs some help.

“It’s been challenging,” said Sheila Alishouse, finance committee chair. “We’ve used all of our reserve funds. Our congregation has been really supportive and kind and generous and we’re still falling short.”

Alishouse said the church has been waiting on a large payment from the IRS for the last 15 months. The church filed a claim through the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) program, a pandemic relief package that came out of the 2020 CARES Act.

“We budgeted about $170,000 in our budget for this year,” Alishouse said.

In the meantime, the church has had to prepare to scale back on certain …