A Letter from The Bishop’s Warden – September 30, 2019
This is a tale of making things new, or at least better. The original thought for the construction project at Holy Trinity was to improve the handicap ramp and make it usable. A fund was started to offset the costs, and a preliminary plan was formulated.
However, input from other sources led to the much greater undertaking of redoing Holy Trinity’s entire front entrance. When the project is complete, we will have new steps, a porch, new front doors, and a handicap lift instead of a ramp. The entire porch and lift will be covered by a roof. This is going to change the look of our church, but I am sure we will like it. The character of the building will remain the same, but it will be a little more dressed up.
As of the end of September, the concrete work is almost complete, with only the new walks still to be poured. Next, the existing front doors will be removed, and the front siding will be replaced, since splicing new siding into the old would be unattractive and very difficult to do. The new front doors—still double doors and still painted red—will have windows, so that light can come into foyer, and we will be able to see who or what is outside. The doors will be equipped with crash bars, opening from the inside whenever the bars are pushed. This is a safety feature. Thus, it will be possible to lock the doors while services are being conducted; yet if a need arises requiring rapid exit, the crash bars will open the doors, even if locked. Being able to lock the doors is also a safety consideration amidst the random violence that has occurred recently.
The new steps are much easier to navigate with a much smaller rise. They are nice and wide, with no big step at the bottom. The new handrails will be much more secure and will look much better than the old ones. PD and I did reuse some of the old rails to repair the rails on the steps to the side door. They still need to be painted. The new ones will be powder coated, with no painting required. The cover over the porch and the lift will have metal roofing and be supported by two large columns at the front and smaller ones around the lift and next to the church building. New lighting built into the ceiling of the cover will illuminate the steps and landing much better.
The lift will be of all-metal construction with battery backup power, so that no one will get stuck if the power fails. A master on-off switch will be located inside the church, meaning that the lift will not operate unless someone is at the church. A demonstration and instruction session will be conducted once the lift is installed and operational.
Now for what happened to the ramp repair fund money. It was decided that since the lift is a ramp replacement, the existing funds would be put toward the lift purchase.
Some landscaping will be needed once the construction work is complete, so please think about how we should landscape the new front of Holy Trinity. Funds will be limited, but your gifts will go a long way toward accomplishing the final step of the change to building project.
