News and Updates
May 2012: Our architects, Project Manager, and related teams have begun the work of moving the project forward by preparing construction documents for the full project. The capital campaign will be reignited and other means of raising additional funds will be considered. A Transition Team is being formed to guide us through the process of packing up, moving out, living through, and moving in. At Shrine Mont, our annual parish retreat in June, we will continue the process of figuring out how to live in and through the tension the project will surely bring.
April 2012: At the Vestry’s spring retreat, the Steering Committee was invited to provide an update, to review the questions/comments, and to hear our Project Manager’s perspective on the project. While in Executive Session, the Vestry voted to return to the original design: to dig and complete a new undercroft, renovate the main floor (including the foyer, parish hall, and kitchen), and install a second floor for offices. The decision was announced to the parish and discussed at an open meeting on Sunday, April 29.
March 2012 -- March 2012: The parish gathered for the Annual Meeting and heard questions and comments from parishioners during a Town Hall discussion. Questions and comments were also submitted via our parish e-group as well as the capital campaign e-mail box. The Steering Committee then set out to respond to the 80+ pages of questions and comments. Click here to connect to the questions/comments document.
October 30, 2011 -- Fundraising for the Vision 2020 Capital Campaign is officially underway! Last night, we had a spectacular kick-off gala at the church, with more than 200 people, great food and wine, and the return of the hilarious St. Mark's Follies! Afterwards, we were pleased to be able to announce that an effort to get advance pledges from the leadership and other members of the community has managed to raise $1,002,447.77 for the project! That means we are well on our way toward our goal of more than $1.5 million! Now we need everyone to build on this great momentum by making a pledge. Be sure to review the capital campaign brochure, which can be found here. You can find a pledge card for both the Canvass and the capital campaign here. Remember, this campaign is being conducted simultaneously with the 2012 Annual Canvass -- hence the two-part pledge card. Canvass comes first! Make a pledge to the annual canvass, which keeps us operating, and then make a decision about contributing to the capital campaign. Click here for information about the 2012 Annual Canvass and how your pledge dollars are being allocated.
October 9, 2011 -- Be sure to read the great sermon today by our Rector, Paul Abernathy, and our Senior Warden, Cecilia Monahan. They gave a terrific dialogical sermon about the capital campaign. Click here to read it!
September 19, 2011 -- At its meeting on September 18, the Vestry approved a Vision 2020 Steering Committee request to move forward with a revised design for the renovation and expansion of our Parish Hall. The revised design would add a second floor to the Parish Hall, renovate and expand the Foyer, build two new meeting/classrooms in an expanded Undercroft beneath the new Foyer, and build -- but not finish -- the space beneath the Parish Hall. The space below the Parish Hall would be dug out, but left unfinished, with a concrete floor and basic electricity.
There were several key reasons why the Steering Committee recommended this change. First, by not finishing this space, we achieve savings that will bring the total cost of the project to a more manageable $3.5 million. Second, we will have the ability at any time to finish the space – including immediately, if the capital campaign is even more successful than we imagine. But whether we finish the space beneath the Parish Hall next year or five years from now, by digging it out now, we give ourselves the flexibility for future expansion. Moreover, the cost of digging it out now is not prohibitive, but the cost and complexity of not digging it out now and deciding that we want to do at a later time would be enormous. Third, we gain two additional classrooms in the Undercroft. New classroom and meeting space was a critical goal of the project from the outset. Although we will not gain the Adams Room-sized space that we had hoped for, the two additional rooms will help our Sunday School program and increase the flexibility we have for the use of meeting rooms by both internal and external groups. Finally, we preserve the core elements of the project, including the construction of the new second floor and the renovation of the Parish Hall, Foyer and Kitchen.
Getting accurate cost estimates for a project of this size and complexity is not easy. Our consultants have worked hard to reduce costs as much as possible, and will continue to look for more ways to do so. While this was a difficult decision, we believe it was the right one, both for now and to allow flexibility for the future.
September 5, 2011 -- Thanks so much to those who attend church and the Parish Picnic on September 4th. Vision 2020 Co-Chairs Kenn Allen and Mike Townsend preached the sermon, "The History of Our Future," which looked at the reasons behind the capital campaign effort. You can read their sermon by clicking here.
August 27, 2011 -- It's been a productive summer for the Vision 2020 Steering Committee. We've been working closely with our consultants to produce a more detailed design for the renovation and expansion of our Parish Hall. Over the summer, we took preliminary drawings of the plan to the Commission on Fine Arts and the Historic Preservation Review Board, both of which have now approved our proposal. This is a big step, as these approvals are necessary before the project can move forward. We are working with a general contractor to secure detailed cost estimates of the project. And we are preparing to launch our capital campaign fundraising effort this fall. Check back in this space regularly for updates!