Capital Campaign Update for March

Spring is just around the corner, and with it the planting season. That must mean it’s time for an update on the Capital Campaign projects, right? Here’s a brief recap:

Landscaping

We recently received the gift of some variegated iris that will be planted around the Memorial Garden, and also more cactus to be sited on the 103rd Avenue side of the church. Kris Coates, our landscape designer, estimates that the danger of cold snaps will be past by the end of March, and these items will be planted then. That’s also when some of the larger bushes remaining will be “stumped back” to regrow into more natural shapes. In the meantime, Bill Wentling is working on weed control, Kris is researching fountains for the Memorial Garden, and the Blue Stake work has been done so our landscaper can begin installing the new permanent irrigation piping on the north and west sides of the lot.

The Celtic Cross

Some of you have been asking when the cross will finally be completed. The bad news: the manufacturer of the bricks we are using recently went out of business, leaving us without enough bricks in our possession to complete the cross. The good news: a stockpile of 1500 bricks still exists, so we are in the process of negotiating the purchase of the remaining bricks we need plus some spares. More good news: because of this delay, if you had meant to have a brick engraved and didn’t get around to ordering it before, you can order it now. Call or stop by the church office with your information. Remember, text for each brick is limited to three lines, with 15 characters (including spaces) on each line. Take a look at the engraved bricks in the corner of the courtyard if you need inspiration.

The other missing piece of the cross is the center medallion. After examining the costs and durability of various options, the Capital Campaign Task force is recommending that we choose one of three possibilities:

• A solid concrete circle filling the entire 7-foot-diameter hole, with a design stenciled in the middle;
•  A patterned granite circle approximately 4 feet in diameter, surrounded by a ring of concrete 18 inches wide; or 
• A plain granite circle, 4 feet wide and surrounded by an 18 inch concrete ring, with a Bible verse engraved on the granite.

Examples of how these options would look are on display in Swain Hall; take a look and vote for your choice!

The Fireside Room

The “missing link” in the Fireside Room is the new upholstery. Due to the size of our order (18 chairs!), the fabric had to be special ordered, and when it arrived, it contained weaving flaws. The fabric was returned and reordered and should arrive within the next few weeks, when the upholstery work will begin. Until then, admire the new paint job on the west wall of the room; the nice blue fireplace bump-out made the rest of that wall look so much worse that Carol Davis repainted it herself. Thank you, Carol!

Of course, the walls in the south entrance to the Sanctuary and the connecting rooms still badly need new paint, and the Sanctuary itself was last painted in 1997. If you haven’t contributed to the capital campaign yet, there’s still time to make a pledge and help spruce up those areas, too!