Renovation Volunteers Needed!
Volunteers needed for Building Project! If you can help lay some laminate material on countertops in the new offices, please contact Mark Pipkorn at mpipkorn@transviva.com, or speak to Lora Dundek or David Molvik as soon as possible.

This is just the first call for building project volunteers. Over the next few weeks, as the construction workers, plumbers and finishers move out, we will need quite a few congregation members to move in with paint brushes, carpentry tools, pliers, screwdrivers and wrenches to help finish the work. In order to bring this project in close to budget, we planned quite a few do-it-ourselves projects. So expect that there will be more requests like the one above.

A look back.

No, this is not a new construction picture. Rather, it's an early picture Mount Olive, taken with the whole congregation in front of the building. I believe that this one was from the late 1920's, when the congregation was trying to find money to build what would become our current sanctuary. At that time, the life of the congregation was contained in the basement of this structure. Remember that finances were tough in that era, yet the church moved forward with faith that they would be able to raise the necessary funds. Sounds like a familiar scenario, right? We are again reaching a point where we'll be asking for support for some items that weren't budgeted in our current plan. We will be re-using many pieces of furniture, shelving, desks, etc. Carol Austermann has generously offered her time to reupholster, among other things, the benches from the Chapel Lounge to be put into the new hospitality space. The red couches will be used for the staff offices. But we'll still need some new pieces for the hospitality space, the chapel lounge and staff offices. Watch for news about how you can help.
There are no new pictures this week. I decided that even though there is progress, most people wouldn't be too interested in pictures of plumbing pipes now coming out of the floors in the bathrooms. The most visually exciting thing, at least from my point of view, are the new windows on two sides of the building. The new office spaces have all new windows, and the east assembly room now has two clear windows looking out the back of the building. Just perfect for natural light on sunny mornings! If you stand in the right places, you can see all the way from the Chicago Avenue side, through the chapel lounge and out the other side of the EAR.

Brickwork and sheet rock

I hadn't been in the building for almost a week, so it was easy to see progress yesterday. One picture you see here is of the finished - at least on one side - door openings to the chapel lounge. Three doors instead of one will ease congestion during large receptions. You also see the walled-in galley serving area, taken from the door of the little kitchen and looking through the serving window into the east assembly room.
Lots of progress has been made on the bathrooms. Much of the energy of the crew has been put into those. In the meantime, Mark Pipkorn and David Molvik spend many hours in the building, working with the construction crew, attending to details and making countless decisions about the best way to proceed. We all owe them a lot of thanks. And kudos to the staff for putting up with the noise and dust and general inconvenience. Hopefully they'll really appreciate the new space when it's finished.

Hospitality space and little kitchen take shape

Progress is always slower during construction than during demolition, so it's nice to show some tangible changes. You see here three views of the new front hospitality space, formerly the old office suite. The support posts were removed today because the new steel support beam is fully in place. It's now possible to get a real sense of what the space will feel like. In one view you see what was the former pastor's office which will contain library shelves and seating space. In another view you can see the safe and storage closet, which will stay in place. Another view is looking straight on into the new space from the middle doorway of the Chapel Lounge. "Behind the scenes" work on this space is being done by the furniture committee (Brian Jacobs, Naomi Peterson and Carol Austermann) with a view toward comfortable seating and a warm and inviting feel.
Two other shots included here are of the two newly framed doorways from the Chapel Lounge into the East Assembly Room. In addition, the new wall of the little kitchen, opening into the cloak room for more space and easier access, now has drywall applied. This will be a much more convenient space in which to work, especially for larger receptions.

Whimsy (Construction Worker Style)

OK - so you're standing at the urinal in the men's room downstairs and you just happen to look up. This is what you'd see. (Double click on the picture to improve the view!) It's probably better than looking up to see real eyes peering at you from up above in what is now the new work and storage room for the office suite, and what was formerly the men's room on the main level of the parish house. Sometimes holes in the floor created by plumbing removal create an opportunity for a construction worker joke.