St. Mark’s Announces Plan to be Better Stewards of Our Space
“You know, every time the church has been made larger it’s been because of the increase in
children attending Sunday School here. Youth will be served.”
– Rev. C. Philip Staples, Vicar of St. Mark’s, 1950
As we continue to move forward out of our time of pandemic, St. Mark’s has been blessed with joy-full youth and wonderful church school teachers and childcare providers. At this year’s Vestry retreat the Vestry discussed how we can further develop the formation programs for our youth.
Members of our parish leadership have been having conversations with our teachers and childcare coordinator as we l ook to further develop our formation programs for September. We will soon be having conversations with parents as we continue to plan for next year.
One thing is clear, however: with a growing number of young parishioners, we need to be better stewards of our space. We need to resume using Room 4 as a classroom, and Room 6 as a library/parlor space that can be used for small meetings or classes.
In light of this wonderful situation of needing more space, members of the Buildings & Grounds committee, along with other members of our parish leadership, met, discussed, and explored options for creating space in Carroll Hall for storing materials for Math Adventures & Word Play and Jesus Dream (the congregation who rents our space) and some of our other equipment which are currently stored in rooms 4 and 6. This will allow Room 4 to become a third classroom for our youngest parishioners, and the full length of Room 6 to be available for larger meetings, Sunday forums, etc., as well as a comfortable space for study, reading, conversation, etc.
The B&G committee, wardens, vestry, and rector all agree that the best of the options explored was the creation of two storage rooms at the back right corner of Carroll Hall (approximately a third of the former stage area). Thanks to Chris Paolino for drawing up the plans for the spaces based on Vestry discussions. The work is scheduled to be done in June. B&G member Eric Brauer will be overseeing the work done by the contractor. It will be done along with the separate project of repairing the section of the ceiling in the hallway outside of the sacristy, which experienced water damage. We have received gifts that will cover the cost to complete the work. The donors are very happy to support our youth and our need to create more classroom and library space.
We will need help with various tasks in making this happen. Our goal is to have our classrooms and classes ready for the start of the new program year. So, stay tuned! Wonderful opportunities lie ahead.
In Faith, Hope, and Love,
St. Mark’s Wardens, Vestry, and Rector