Never a Dull Moment!
"Summer Time, and the livin’ is easy..." (Sing it with me!) So goes the song, but not life at Trinity Lutheran Church and School... “Easy” would definitely not be the word I’d choose, but “hard” wouldn’t be, either... Exhilarating, scary, interesting, exhausting, challenging, infuriating, frustrating, satisfying, aggravating, intense, and even sometimes fun - all these would individually fit better at times, and occasionally all merge together at once. “What’s going on?” you ask.
In our school, our new principal, Kathy Rutt, and our program director, Fran Sanders, are really knocking themselves out as we close out last year, rework the grades and teaching staff, policies, procedures, equipment needed, and all the rest of what it takes to make a school work is all happening at break-neck speed. I am working on redoing the computers, printers and software for the office staff, putting new computers, document cameras, projectors and interactive whiteboards in for our teachers to use, and the big thing (like that wasn’t big enough), we are re-doing the computer lab with current computers and software so that it is actually a usable teaching computer lab. This is where all the adjectives mentioned above come together.
For our school and church, we have to deal with a roofing issue this summer before school starts. We’ve had water damage and musty smells for a couple of years now, and many of the ceilings in the classrooms are ruined. There are actually gaping holes in most of the ceilings in the upstairs classrooms. Some classroom ceilings have been patched with parts from other classroom ceilings, but the next time it rains, even the patched ceilings will be ruined. It’s just awful, really is not useable, and truly is not fit for human habitation. It HAS to be fixed before we can use the classrooms, and we’re already concerned that we have mold issues, so it needs to be dealt with NOW.
The problem is, of course, money and, because of the school start in September we have timing and scheduling issues as well. Teachers need to prep their classes, and we need to do the basic cleaning and upkeep. We had planned to do the needed repairs as soon as the property that was approved for sale is sold, but with the housing market down, it will take longer than we hoped, and the need is immediate. We’ve already waited 7-10 years too long and now we have some damage to repair because we didn’t do it when it was needed. So...
The Council and Executive Committee have scheduled a Congregational Meeting for Sunday, July 20th, 2008,11:15 am (to allow for Sunday school) to approve a proposal to fund the immediate repairs, which estimated at $75,000. This was budgeted for in the original property sale proposal, but with the immediate needs staring us in the face and demanding attention this summer, we simply cannot wait for the housing market to pickup.
A second item on the agenda for that meeting has to do with the property being sold on 130th St. The Property Sale Committee has recommended, and the Council has approved, adding the sexton’s house to the properties being sold. Our research shows that a 200’ wide frontage lot would be much more marketable than a smaller lot with an old house in significant disrepair next to it.
Lots to do - very little time in which to do it - much support and prayer needed! Yes, and sometimes hard choices...
In Christ’s service,
Pastor Larry