Our Welcoming Piece Building Project

A Welcoming Piece Building Campaign Timeline

Building Campaign Timeline

How we got to where are now

September 2011 - With all the other work done in the sanctuary it was time for the new carpeting.  The install was completed on Friday, September 2nd in spite of the thunderstorm that knocked out power here at Emmanuel for the entire day…!  Still to do, the window treatments, building some moveable risers, and a bit of wiring for the sound system.

 

August 2011 - Was a busy month in our sanctuary. 

· Chancel area risers were redone to make the various step heights uniform

· Sound System inputs were moved to outside edges

· The space below the cross on the south wall was redone by reusing wood trim that had been removed during previous renovations of the chancel

· Wood trim was added to the chancel risers

· The area holding the Clavinova was raised to allow better sight lines and to better use the space in that area

· The spaces between pews was expanded to allow more comfortable seating and to enhance movement in and out of the pews

· Two additional short pews were added to allow for more space for wheelchairs and walkers

· The grill for the old sound room was covered with sheet rock as this was no longer necessary for the organ.

 

July 2011 - The Sanctuary was painted and the old faux organ pipes were taken down

 

June 2011 - With more than $10,000 in Memorials given to upgrade and renovate the sanctuary plans began to get new carpet, window treatments, paint, lights, reformat the risers in the chancel area, and to install a rock facing on the front wall of the sanctuary to the right and left of the stained glass.  Painting will be done first, then window treatments, then the risers will be redone, then carpeting, then as funds are available, the lights and the rock facing.

 

November 21, 2010 - In response to our Opening Doors Capital Campaign $152,874 in gifts and pledges to the campaign are received.  Thank you to all who gave and continue to give!  The priorities for the gifts received are reducing our debt (the first two thirds of all gifts will be used for this) and then replacing the doors at the Ramp and Meade Street entrances to make them more secure and energy efficient, and then to tackle our sanctuary upgrades and redo.

 

October 24, 2010 - We kick-off our Opening Doors Capital Campaign during Sunday morning worship!  Commitment Sunday will be Sunday, November 21st!

 

August 26, 2010 - Our Capital Campaign Committee met for the first time to begin the process of leading us through the process of raising the funds needed to pay down our debt and finish up what we began back in 2005 to make Emmanuel a more welcoming place!

 

August 3, 2010 - With this information in hand our Finance Committee, Trustees, and Administrative Council met to formulate a plan to pay off our debt and to finish off our project.  The plan approved at the August 3rd Administrative Council meeting is to use 2/3 of all funds received to pay down our debt and the other 1/3 used to move forward on our remaining projects.  Priority 1 is to pay down our debt.

             The priorities established for the three remaining projects will be:

· Priority 1: The Ramp & Meade Street Doors.  There are several issues with these doors.  They are one of the first things people see as they enter our church and they are not in very good shape after nearly 40 years of use, which is a “Welcoming Piece” issue.  They have significant air leaks around the perimeters which make them very energy inefficient.  There are also security issues with these doors as they do not consistently lock completely.  The new doors will be more attractive, much more energy efficient, and have much better locking and will feature a card reader lock.  The estimated cost for this portion of the project is $15,000.

· Priority 2: Upgrading and remodeling the sanctuary.  Our sanctuary was last upgraded sometime in the 1980s.  It is in need of fresh new paint, new draperies, new carpeting, as well as a reconfiguration of the front of the sanctuary which will including making this area handicap accessible.  The estimated cost for this is $20,000,

· Priority 3: Replacing all single pane windows with thermo pane windows.  We still have 28 single pane windows, 11 in the Sanctuary, 11 in the Fellowship Hall, 2 in the Blue Room, 1 in the Candle Room, 1 in the two stairwells off the Sanctuary, and 1 in the choir room downstairs.  These windows are very energy inefficient and many are cracked.  Their replacement will make our church that much more energy efficient.  The estimated cost for this portion of the project is $50,000.

 

June 2010 - Rev. Jean Nicholas from the Wisconsin United Methodist Foundation reported on the  Foundation’s findings from the pre capital campaign interviews conducted in May.  Their findings coming from these interviews were:

¨ Paying down our debt is the top high priority

¨ We are pleased with what we have done to date

¨ We appear ready to make the next step

¨ It will be a challenge but we are up to it

 

May 2010 - The Wisconsin United Methodist Foundation comes to Emmanuel to conduct pre capital campaign interviews to determine where the people of Emmanuel are regarding a second capital campaign to pay down our existing debt from the first part of our project and to complete the three remaining projects on our Welcoming Piece to do list, upgrading our sanctuary, replacing our ramp and Meade Street doors, and replacing the remaining single pane windows.

 

March 2010 - As the initial three years of our “A Welcoming Piece” capital campaign comes to an end plans are made for the next phase of our project.  But we are also blessed by many continue to give their weekly or monthly gifts to our Building Fund.

 

October 2009 - A high efficiency heating system consisting of two boilers is installed.  Funds to make this happen were borrowed having calculated that the amount saved on lower heating bills will make the loan payments.  For the months of November 2009 to March 2010 with our new boilers heating the church our gas bill was more than $5,400 lower than the previous time with our old boiler.  This is more than an entire year’s payments on our loan.

 

August 2009 - Having been told that if we didn’t do something to maintain our parking lot soon we would have to replace it completely, the decision was made to have the necessary maintenance work done. 

 

April 2009 - Having experienced significant leaks in the roof above the second floor Sunday School rooms this roof is replaced along and additional insulation is added.

 

January 27, 2009 - We dedicated our new elevator and celebrated with an all church dinner following worship!

 

August to December 2008 - The construction necessary to bring an elevator and other needed accessibility upgrades is done.  The work included a new elevator, renovating the first floor Men’s Bathroom into a handicap accessible Unisex Bathroom, completely replacing the kitchen in the lounge, adding two “areas of rescue” on the second floor and in the basement, upgrading our ramp railing, adding smoke and fire alarm systems.  Work which was also part of this but completed later include a remodel of the Youth Room downstairs.

 

June 10, 2007 - A special church conference was held to vote on going ahead with our building project.  The motion passed by a vote of 39 for and 1 against.   Contracts could now be signed and construction could begin.  The following month the Building Committee selected Miron Construction as our primary contractor, High Tech Electric for the smoke and fire alarms, and W&L Roofing for the additional required roof work.

 

March 18, 2007 - We held the commitment Sunday for our Welcoming Piece Capital Campaign.  By March 27th of that month we had received gifts and pledges to our capital campaign totaling $283,522.90!  

 

October 15, 2006 - Following the recommendation of our Accessibility Work Group which had been formed at the planning retreat, our annual Church Conference voted unanimously to form a Building Committee assigned with the tasks of getting the necessary state approved plans, doing the work necessary to raise the needed funds, getting estimates for the work needed, as well as obtaining all other necessary approvals.

 

February 5, 2006 - As part of a long range planning retreat, and using our mission statement which declares that “We welcome,” a group was formed to research what it would take to make our church  fully handicap accessible, so that we could “welcome” people to all levels of our church building.  As reported in the March 2006 church newsletter one of the top priorities for “We welcome” was:

“To enhance our ministry of welcoming by making our facility more accessible, specifically by working toward getting an  elevator.  A group is being formed to research what it will take to get this done.”

 

2005 - Having explored the possibility of relocating Emmanuel to southeast Appleton the decision is made that Emmanuel will stay at the corner of College & Meade in the heart of the city.