Sacred Heart of Jesus Capital Campaign at 156 Valley SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504 US - March Director's Letter - Update on our Capital Campaign
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March Director's Letter - Update on our Capital Campaign |
I recently received a very good question that I thought might be worth sharing. “Why 2.1 million?” Very good question. The answer is a little on the long side. The 2.1 million is the cost for the repairs that are needed immediately. Most everyone is aware of the state of the towers and their need for repair. This is only one of several areas of the church building and grounds that need attention. There is available a compilation of the repairs required and the proposed costs associated with each repair. If you would like to see this compilation and the breakdown of costs, please contact the parish office. The information will be made available for you to review. Bill gave us all insight into how the church was originally constructed as well as a view of how things were done back then. Bill spoke of some of the history of the surrounding the area, too. Most of you who have a long history with Sacred Heart know that the gypsum mines have been a big part of the landscape, so to speak, of this part of town. Those mines and the Grand River have had their influence on the building, too, adding the potential complication of flowing water underground within the near vicinity of the church. Another factor that our church building has had to endure has been dramatic climate effects. Bill pointed out that that during the very week of our meeting, Grand Rapids was going to experience a full 40 degree swing in temperatures - from well below freezing to a balmy (for Grand Rapids) 40 degrees. Bricks, mortar and moisture do very strange things to each other under these conditions. Years of freezing and thawing have acted like a wedge in the structure of our church building. And as gaps form, more moisture invades - more moisture freezing and thawing deepens the wedges and furthers the damage. Guttering is a real factor here. If we don’t get the water away from the building, we have all sorts of problems with ice dams and the like. As Bill spoke and reviewed the reports from three years ago, it became more clear to all of us that our church is in need of a lot more than some patching mortar. So back to the original question, why $2.1 million? The short answer is, we’re going to the root of the problems to assure that the repairs made are appropriate, properly targeted and long lasting. The longer answer is, Sacred Heart Church is a solid concrete and brick structure built in an area that has a lot of geological defects in a climate with very wide swings in temperature and moisture. The foundation of our church is 24” thick solid concrete walls plus footings beneath that include the footprint of the towers. With the southeastern tower pulling away from the main structure, weakness in the foundation must be reinforced to correct and prevent further damage. With evidence of moisture invading from above, we must address drainage issues to get water away from the building. Our church building is over 90 years old and is in need of attention that will allow it to stand for the next 100 years. Superficial or cosmetic repairs will be wholly insufficient to address the kind of damage that we are going to correct. We are past the Band-aid stage. We are here, now, and this is what must be done. So how is the campaign going? We have implemented a separate computer system to manage the pledges and contributions. Jan Pacific and Rose Arbanas have donated dozens of hours in collecting, entering and tracking pledges and donations. They have already generated 2009 statements. If you have not yet received yours, please contact Jan or Rose through the parish office. Mike Menardie has been keeping our web site up-to-date. If you have friends or family who you think would like to see the video that Dave Phelps and the Menardies produced, it is on the web site, too. Our web site can be reached directly at: http://home.catholicweb.com/shofjrenewourlegacy or through a link on the Sacred Heart Parish web site: http://home.catholicweb.com/SacredHeartofJesus In the next few months, you will see people from Bill Cox’s team crawling around the building, hovering over the building in cherry pickers, or digging with drilling equipment. They will be gathering current information about the state of the building and the surrounding areas so that a complete picture and report may be presented to the diocese. If you have questions or concerns, please get them addressed by contacting Fr. Ed Hankiewicz, Dave Arbanas or me. Thank you for your prayerful support of this effort!
The Scope of Work
The maintenance of the church building has been deferred for some time. And as is the case with necessary maintenance and repairs in our own homes, deferring the work can mean greater need of immediate attention and more costly repairs. The parish Finance Committee took great care in having the needs of the church and grounds assessed and in collecting proposals for having the work done.
History and Insights
About a month ago, I had the chance to sit in on a joint meeting of the Sacred Heart Finance and Building Committees. Bill Cox of the architectural firm Cox, Medendorp and Olson sat in to give us a preview of the investigation phase of repairing our church. His talk was enlightening to all of us - part history lesson, part geology lesson, part architecture lesson, part building construction technology lesson. For a geek like me, this was a little glimpse of heaven - not enough computers, though.
The big drive for the pledges is completed. We have reached over one million dollars in pledges, out of our goal of $2.1 million. We have had a good initial response and some generous contributions and pledges from friends outside of the parish. We still have not heard from a number of parishioners and urgently ask that those of your who have not yet made your pledges, please do so. Your generous pledge will help us in the planning and budgeting phases and get us closer to moving forward on our much needed repairs.
What is next?
In March, Dave Arbanas will be making information available to the parish about the parish finances and the preliminary project plan. Please look for announcements in the bulletin and plan to attend one of his information sessions so that you may be more aware of what is happening.
How can you help?
Friends and fellow parishioners, as you can see, this project is bigger than any one of us. It requires all of us to pull together and take action based on faith - faith that we will be taken care of even in these troubling times. Sacrifice for each of us means something different. But the common element of sacrifice is that we give of ourselves willingly, out of love. To those who have contributed or made your pledge, thank you for your generosity and personal sacrifice. For those who have not yet committed, please join us in this worthwhile effort. Pledge cards are available in the church and at the parish office.
Michael A. Dupont
Campaign Director
Renewing Our Legacy of Faith