St. George's Hits A Million Dollars in their Fundraising Efforts

Since April 22^nd, when a piece of “grout” fell from the ceiling in St. George’s Church Hall, it became apparent that the 50-year-old Church was due for a renovation. Thus launched the “50^th Anniversary Commitment to the Future,” a fundraising endeavor to raise $1.5 million to renovate the Church Hall and the main Church.

“Currently, we’re at a million dollars,” shares Susanna Smith, the parish’s Business Manager who has spearheaded the fundraising efforts, “$1.1 Million to be exact, so we’re so close, but no quite there yet.” Since the fundraising started, the Parish has done all it can to make the community aware of its efforts, and involved in them. “We’ve held what we call Dialogue Nights that are open to the public so people can be a part of our renovation plans.” The Church has also sent out Newsletters, keeping their parishioners updated on the fundraising progress.

“What is important for people to realize is the amount of community organizations that are impacted by the Hall being out of commission,” says Smith. Countless Guilford religious, civic and social organizations use the hall including the Food Pantry, Girl Scouts, Guilford Garden Club, Guilford Historical Preservation Society, the White Elephant Sale, Red Cross Blood Drive, and the Boy Scouts, just to name a few. “This really is a community space and it is vital that we get it up and running as soon as possible.”

Renovations to the hall would include the repair of the roof, including the removal of the falling grout to insure future safety, installing energy efficient heating and adding air conditioning, installing new energy efficient windows and doors with glass for safety and security, updating electrical systems to code, renovating the restrooms and adding a new handicapped/family bathroom, among other projects. The grout that fell from the ceiling that originally spurred this fundraising project was actually a temporary fix to fill the gaps in the original construction, so this time, a full replacement must be done before the hall will be usable again. “The renovations will take a few months to complete, but we would ideally like to get it done for our Christmas Masses. However, that’s all going to depend on our ability to compete our fundraising efforts”

But fundraising has been more challenging as of late to get in the last half a million dollars. “It’s easy to reach out to our parishioners because they’re here every week, but it’s incredibly challenging to reach the community and let them know about the work we’re trying to accomplish. The hall space has provided a space for town organizations to use for countless years, and we want to be able to continue to provide this space to the community we are a part of. Unfortunately, at this point, we are unable to do so until the renovations can be made. ”

When the fundraising is complete, St. George plans to have a celebration, and anyone, or any organization, which donates will be acknowledged, regardless of the size of the donation. “Although they are always appreciated, I don’t need to see people giving huge donations. In fact, I would love to see more people give smaller donations because that shows we are working on something that our town cares about and that residents recognize that this space is important to our community.”