Remarks from Father Rick – Parish Center #8

My remarks today continue with the letter that was sent to the Diocese last November. That letter was a request, from us as a parish, to begin the fundraising project for the renovation of the “Old Church”. This week I am including the section of the letter that addresses the plans for the “Proposed Facility” and how the project with be financed.

PROPOSED FACILITY
The basic plan calls for renovating the old sanctuary into an open meeting space with a new floor covering and new ceiling tiles. A new kitchen will be installed as well as new restrooms. There are other small renovations in addition to the major ones and all of the changes and additions to the existing facility are shown on the attached schematic. (NOTE: The schematic is not attached to this letter.) Cornerstone Construction Co. has prepared a preliminary estimate of the cost and their estimate of completing the project is $360,000. Since it is proposed to do the renovations next spring and taking into account for any unknown contingencies, we are using a $400,000 figure for budgeting purposes.

It is anticipated that it will take about 90 days to complete the renovation process. It is hoped that by July 1, 2007, the facility will be ready for use by parishioners and outsiders alike. The marketing of the renovated facility will also begin at the same time that the renovation starts. There have been very few new meeting rooms opened up in the last five years. With all new floors and ceilings, as well as a state of the art kitchen, we should receive a lot of interest from people looking for an attractive place for their meetings or other get togethers.

FUNDING OF THE RENOVATIONS
As mentioned above, the budgetary figure for the new facility is $400,000 of which we are requesting a $200,000 loan, which represents 50% of the total estimated costs. The parishes $200,000 portion of the total project will come from funds raised from a new capital campaign that we are looking to start around December 2006. We already have a local benefactor that has agreed to do a matching contribution. For every dollar (up to $100,000) that we raise the benefactor has agreed to contribute $.50 to the project. We are giving ourselves about six months to raise the funds in actual donations or pledges. We are optimistic that we will find other benefactors for the project that could also do a matching program, even if it is on a smaller scale. For the 16 week period after the Branson Landing opened this year our tourist contributions increased 20% over the average contributions of this nature over the average for this same time period for the last 4 years. This amounted to an increase of $13,000.00 for a 16 week period.


As you read the above section, you realize that we have been very flexible regarding the “start date” for the renovation. We have not raised the money that we thought we could raise for the time we had. So, the Parish Council and Finance Committee decided to re-evaluate the fundraising plan. Current thinking from the Finance Committee and Parish Council is to “phase” the renovation project into 3 distinct areas. By doing this, we would not have to borrow any money from the Diocese. We would only spend what we had collected through fundraising on each phase. So, be at ease, we are not taking out another loan from the Diocese. We are just raising money and that is what the current “Build the Center” drawing is concerned.

Next weekend I will include another section of this letter. It will deal with the business plan for renting out the new Parish Center. Thanks for pondering these remarks! Know of my thoughts and prayers for you and your loved ones.

Father Rick L. Jones, Pastor