Remarks from Father Rick – Parish Center Fund Raising #5

This week I want to address how we decided to progress into the fundraising stage last November. Well, this is pretty easy to explain. We needed money once we discovered that the cost of renovating the “Old Church” into the Parish Center was going to be approximately $400,000. Since we do not have $400,000 burning a whole in our pocket, we needed to try to raise the money.

As I stated last week, we had to gain the approval of the Diocese for this project. In this article this weekend, I am including the letter from last November that was sent to the Diocese asking for approval of our fundraising efforts. I hope it gives you some insight regarding the Parish Center and its future use.

INTRODUCTION
This Thanksgiving Day marks the four-year anniversary of our moving from the old church into the new church for Our Lady of the Lake parish. The new church has been a huge success in terms of fulfilling the space requirements for our parishioners and visitors for weekend mass as well as a center for meeting the ministry needs of our parish families. Due to the lack of a full size kitchen and dining room, it has come up short for serving any function that would require a large meal, such as funerals, weddings, festivals, anniversaries, etc. Due to insurance and code requirements, we knew that was going to be a problem and thought we could use the old church facility to meet these needs. However, for the long term, we think there is a better way to meet these needs and at the same time provide for a new source of revenue to meet our current and future debt obligation.

Over the course of the last 4 years, the old church and kitchen facility have been used on a limited basis. We have looked at trying to develop other uses for the building, but every one required some form of remodeling and city code upgrades as well as trying to coordinate some shared-used program for those dates that we need the facility for our own church needs, (fall and spring suppers, KC breakfasts, rummage sales, KC meetings, some funerals, etc.). While trying to find that perfect shared tenant, we still have to pay for maintenance, utilities, prorated insurance, grounds upkeep, etc, just so the building can be available. Costs go on whether or not we use the building. Just recently, a portion of the lower level has been made available to and is being used by the local CAM (Christian Action Ministries) for their food pantry. They are helping to offset a small portion of our utilities, but an upgrade of this facility could help CAM and our parish raise more funds and allow us to charge more rent.

With this proposal we are requesting permission from the diocese to

  • (1) Move forward with the renovation and upgrading of the old church facility and
  • (2) Advanced approval to borrow up to $200,000 from the diocese at the time that facility starts to be renovated.
With this proposal, we intend to provide information about the need for the facility, the proposed cost and upgraded facility layout, how the facility will be paid for and how the facility will be operated. I will include more of this letter next weekend. Until then, thanks for your time in pondering these remarks! Know of my thoughts and prayers for your and your loved ones during these beautiful June days.

Father Rick L. Jones, Pastor