Remarks from Father Rick – Parish Center #7

What follows is the continuation of the letter that was sent to the Diocese last November. This weekend’s section concludes the section which explains why a renovation of the “Old Church” into the Parish Center is needed.


THE NEED (cont.)
Since the new church as been built we have added approximately 150 families to our parish family. We are also seeing a large increase in Spanish speaking families and future projections indicate this trend will continue. Most functions held in the old church are handled by volunteers who belong to the committee conducting the function. The parish does not have anyone who can coordinate functions where no church committee is involved. There are no volunteers for set up or clean up for non-church functions. Therefore, as a parish we have a choice of continuing with our minimal use of the old facility or renovating the facility and being able to make the facility available for more uses by both parishioners and non-parishioners alike. The extended use of the facility will require a dedicated staff person to oversee not only this facility, but all of the facilities of the parish as well.

With a dedicated staff person, we can now move into servicing the needs of the Branson community. For all the hotel rooms and theaters in Branson, there are a very limited number of places to hold meetings, seminars, receptions, or special events that can serve the number of people that our renovated facility could serve. Currently space of this nature in Branson is renting from .40 to .50 cents per sq. ft. Since our facility will not have many of the enhancements found in a commercial room of this nature we are using a lower figure of .30 cents/sq. ft. to estimate that we should be able to rent our space from $500 to $1000 per event. One of the benefits of our facility will be the availability of a new modern kitchen. We are located just off the main Branson strip, with plenty of parking and easy access to the meeting space. These factors all create a desirable and accessible location for prospective users. While the number of meeting rooms is limited, the projections indicate that Branson is going to see a large new growth in visitors to Branson, more businesses opening up in Branson and more people moving to Branson. The population of Branson increased 43% from 1990 to 1996. New construction values in 2005 totaled $173 million and so far in 2006 totals $158 million. The Branson Landing opened in 2006 and we have already seen an increase in the number of visitors. Branson Hills has sold $39 million in lots and condos in the second quarter of 2006 and $90 million total for 2005. All of this growth has been reflected in continued growth in the number of people attending our weekend Masses. All of these new areas of growth will create an increased demand meeting space to utilize for their own functions. With a dedicated staff, we can coordinate the use of the renovated facility and conduct a meaningful marketing program to help maximize the revenue potential of the facility. We can go from a limited use facility to a modern facility that both parishioner and local user will be happy to have available.



I am grateful to all of those who helped with the original script of this letter. I find that the statistics of our area are amazing. I hope these numbers give you some food for thought. Next weekend I will include another section of this letter. It will address what work will be done in the “to be” renovated facility. Thanks for pondering these remarks! Know of my thoughts and prayers for you and your loved ones.

Father Rick L. Jones, Pastor