St. Thomas' Renovations Proceeding Very Well

The major renovation project at St. Thomas, Collingwood begun after Easter Sunday, 2018 is proceeding very well.

Many thanks to St. Thomas's parish treasurer, Susan Chortyk, ODNW for the following report:

All the hazardous materials have now been removed and the entire basement has pretty much been gutted. Floors, walls and in some places, the ceilings have been removed. They found some cement walls hidden behind the wooden walls that appeared to serve no purpose whatsoever, so those have now been removed as well. The next steps are to get the cement cutting finished so that the tradespeople can begin to put in the new plumbing.

St. Thomas' parish held a potluck dinner, July 3  to bring everyone up to date with the project. chair for Administration and Finance for the parish, Mike Roberts, ODNW put together a great slide presentation and contractor, Brent Repin, was in attendance to answer questions. Brent brought an ice cream cake as his contribution to the potluck (see photo number 1)! 

Financing of the project is proceeding well, thanks to the assistance of the Diocese of New Westminster, a grant from the Anglican Foundation and the generosity of parishioners who have contributed over $527,000 to date.

We continue to worship with our friends at First Lutheran Church (located one block east of the St. Thomas location). We are pleased that most parishioners have adapted to the change in location (and service time as First Lutheran services start at 10:30, not 10 as we are used to). The First Lutheran congregation have generously offered to alternate liturgies so one Sunday we celebrate using the Lutheran rite and the following Sunday it is the Anglican rite. On Lutheran rite Sundays the Lutheran pastor celebrates and St. Thomas's rector the Reverend Michael Batten preaches and on Anglican Sundays it is the reverse. It is truly a cooperative effort. We are slowly working out the challenges of producing two bulletins, different altar set ups depending if it a "Lutheran" or "Anglican" Sunday, and integrating greeters, coffee hostesses and other volunteers. Our music ministers are working extremely well together and both are enjoying having every second Sunday to sit in the congregation and worship rather than lead music. We are so grateful to our friends at First Lutheran church for warmly welcoming us and being so flexible in their worship for such a long period of time. This has been a real gift to us, especially since they have been in the process of calling a new pastor (she will be starting in August and will no doubt be confused as to exactly who belongs to her flock!). 

The St. Thomas' Accessibility Project is being coordinated by the Accessibility Committee, led by, Susan Chortyk, Arlene Henry and Colin Ensworth. Other committee members are, Pat Wickens, Lorie Chortyk, John Green and Rev. Michael Batten.

IMAGES

• Celebratory ice cream cake brought by Brent Repin  Photo Susan Chortyk
• An exterior view of the tidy worksite  Photo Randy Murray
• Parish hall prior to the removal of hazardous materials late May  Photo Mike Roberts
• Lower level as of June 27, with hazardous materials removed  Photo Mike Roberts
• The “kitchen” area awaits a rebuild, June 27  Photo Mike Roberts
• Looking down the stairs June 27  Photo Mike Roberts