Climate Control Upgrade for the Church

St Mary’s Church is a special place, a real treasure of the Valley.  As a pastor, the care of the Church and its people is always on my mind.  One would never want to leave knowing that we did not do everything we could to preserve and enhance this beautiful Church for the future members of our community.
“From our parents to our children” is the mantra on my mind as we complete major restoration to the brickwork of the Church and the repair of the Platz, which will ensure she stands for many years to come; we now turn our eyes to the interior of the Church.
As most of you know, the Church fluctuates greatly in temperature between seasons, as much as 70 F.  This fluctuation is not only uncomfortable for the congregation (especially in the evenings and mid-summer), but they are also very damaging to the interior of the Church and especially our wonderful Grand Organ.
Tonight's paddle raise will begin what I believe will be a multi-year project to look at and address the Climate Control issues in the Church.  We will soon need to replace the 70+-year-old boiler on the heating side and hope to add AC in the Church.  We definitely need to look at the insulation in the roof, which is a great contributor to heat loss in winter and a challenge to cooling in the summer.
During the night of the Fall Festival, a generous donor is offering a matching grant of $100,000.00. With this generosity, we are well on our way to fundraising for this colossal maintenance project; your gift tonight builds on this solid start.
Let’s preserve our Church for future generations.