HONORING A TRADITION OF MISSION AND OUTREACH
Colonial’s spacious facilities continued to be improved and updated
through the success of the Capital Campaign. In keeping with Colonial’s
long-standing commitment to mission and outreach, both here and around the
world, the Capital Campaign included an amount of $250,000 designated for
global outreach and benevolence. With gratitude and celebration that our
family of faith is in a position to grant these gifts, the Church Council
is pleased to announce the first two recipients. The Gospel Association of
India, under the direction of Yesu Bandela, will now be able to purchase
land in India to build a residential school for children in need. Second,
through a growing partnership with the Colonial Chorale, the Outreach
Committee, and Steve Benham, Director of Music in World Cultures, a gift
has been given to help build a school to train musicians in the study of
sacred choral music at the Christian Music Academy in Ukraine. These gifts
of $50,000 each are reaching far beyond this community of faith to touch
the lives of others around the world with the good news of Jesus Christ.
The following is a summary of a few of the major components of our recent Capital Improvements Campaign and deferred maintenance projects.
Air Conditioning System
The installation of air conditioning systems for the Meeting House,
Hearth Room and the Common (from the north entrances to the double doors
near the Music Room) is now complete. The main cooling/ventilating
equipment and the associated distribution systems for these areas have
been installed. Colonial staff and our facility management personnel will
receive operational training classes for the new equipment’s Energy
Management system over the next few weeks.
Comprehensive system performance testing will proceed during late spring/early summer (2007) when the overall system can be placed under “load” during warm weather. We are pleased that we have maintained our previously communicated budget for these installations and look forward to its operation next summer.
New Boiler Installations
We reviewed several options regarding the purchase of new boiler equipment. Remember – our existing boiler was installed during Colonial’s initial construction! This equipment was ordered several months ago and is now
ready for installation, but we will not be installing the equipment until after the 2006/2007 heating season. The new boiler will also be controlled by our Energy Managementsystem installations.
Shingled Roof Replacements
Our committee spent a significant amount of time reviewing various re-roofing designs. We needed to determine a technically superior roofing system that would extend the shingles’ lifespan, and work well within the constraints of our existing conditions. Several of the peaked roofs on our campus were in very poor condition and needed immediate attention. We’ve replaced three roofs.
The Music Room roof was found to need extensive sheathing replacement and we installed foam insulation. The repairs exceed our budget by approximately $40,000.
The Spiritual Formation Center and Fireside Room roofs were found to be in very good condition and needed little underlying substrate (sheathing and insulation) repairs. For these two roofs we expended fewer dollars than projected and hope these “good conditions” exist at other roofs as we proceed. We are cautiously optimistic that we may be able to re-shingle a few more roofs yet this season if weather permits.
Window Replacements
We have replaced a total of 20 windows to date and will be proceeding with additional replacements next year following the Lenten season and Easter. We have been very fortunate to find only minimal damage for the areas below the existing windows.