Fellowship Renovation

Our Campaign Vision is:

To align our Values, Mission, and Resources to step forward in faith

toward God’s plan for South Park Community Church’s future

March, 2021

We greatly appreciate your commitment to our Capital Campaign and are excited to see demolition nearing completion on the Fellowship Hall building as well as plans and materials coming together for our upcoming construction phase. We’re sending this to give you a “big picture” update of where we stand. Session has appointed a Construction Project Management Team to create the structure for making decisions and to maintain transparency and accountability. The team consists of: Steve Buchanan who will support Gerrits and coordinate volunteers; Dave Sykes to focus on budget and spending approval (with the Financial Review Committee); and Pam Jurgemeyer, Jan Buchanan, & Paula Morgan will make decisions about design (colors, flooring, arrangement, fixtures, appliances, etc.).

Our sincere thanks to the many volunteers who’ve already invested their “sweat equity” in the past few months to keep the cost of demo and preparations for construction down, as well as those who will be doing so in the future!

The process began with a group helping to prep for the asbestos removal company to come in around mid-December. After their successful completion, by early January demolition began, with old drywall coming down and walls opened up to see what surprises were behind them. Unrelated to the renovation process, Gerrits Kasper tore tendons in his shoulder, and the ensuing surgery & recovery process moved our timeline to later in the winter.

After removing the wall coverings and ceiling tiles in the fireplace room, we were elated to see that the log walls underneath were in good condition (much better than logs in some other areas). They also found log beams with bark on them when the ceiling was exposed. The design committee decided to have the 2x4 walls removed so we can restore that room similar to how it looked 98 years ago! Gerrits contacted a log restoration company. The restorer stated that all the logs can be restored. He offered to show us how to do the restoration (sand, varnish and chink), and let us use his equipment.

The design team has picked out carpet and designated locations for carpet and hard wood flooring. Steve lined up volunteers to begin demo starting in March. The team discovered a yellow pine floor in the fireplace room that we will resurface. The plan is to restore the original log walls that are not exterior walls and to install tongue and groove at an angle on the exterior wall on each side of the fireplace.

Much of the electrical wiring in the building that’s not up to current code, and all of that will be replaced. The wall between the dining room and bedroom is opened up and accordion doors will be installed. Some of the walls in the kitchen will stay because they are load bearing, holding the floor above, and beams are being added for structural integrity, along with reinforcing walls as needed. The kitchen will be opened up so there will be a walkway where the former galley kitchen was located and we will have a large counter/serving window into the fellowship hall. The sinks and bathroom fixtures have been removed and the copper is being recycled.

The remodel timeframe from start to finish is at least 10 weeks, so this should put us into late spring before finishing.

To date you’ve made pledge commitments for $224,943, or 115% of our $195,000 goal! We have received $180,872 in payments towards those pledges as of mid-March 2021, and have a balance of $44,071 still receivable (we’re scheduled to receive that over the next 2+ years that we anticipate will primarily go to repay the Presbytery Loan). So far we’ve spent $63,043 as of the same date on projects ranging from the church accessibility ramp ($6,214), sound/video system improvements ($2,763), fellowship hall furnace ($12,710), miscellaneous costs ($472), certified asbestos removal ($26,978), along with 2021 expenses related to Fellowship Hall construction ($13,906). This leaves us with $117,829 cash on hand to proceed with the Kitchen/ Bathroom/Fellowship Hall remodel project during the 2021 year.

Gerrits recent quote: “There are a lot of good things and there are some very challenging things, but we can work through them. It’s fun!” Thank you Gerrits and everyone helping with this adventure!

It’s an exciting time for us as a congregation! We hope and pray that you’ll support the work of Gerrits and his subcontractors along with the Construction Project Management Team through your ideas, suggestions, and prayers over the coming months as we work to fulfill God’s calling for us in this effort.

Sincerely,

Dave Sykes

for the Construction Project Management Team

Fellowship Hall Renovation Project

We very much want and need your input & feedback as a part of this process!

Please provide your input & feedback to the Construction Project Management Team:

Steve Buchanan stevebpapayea@yahoo.com ; Dave Sykes davesykes27@gmail.com ; Pam Jurgemeyer pamela@jurgemeyer.org; Jan Buchanan janbuchanan1@yahoo.com ; Paula Morgan alaskap@me.com ; Gerrits Kasper gs.kasper@gmail.com ; & Kenny Shaw kenny@soparkcc.org

Here is a video presentation with pictures of the progress we are making and the fun we are having. (Thanks for the pictures Gerrits and for putting this together Dave!)