capital campaign >
building faith, raising hope

Take a look at this graph and praise God! We have had a wonderful outpouring of gifts to our capital campaign as we have had an abundance of wealth poured out from God to our congregation. It is great, too, to continue to be ahead of the schedule of pledges. These funds have been used primarily for construction so far. One $200,000 payment was made on the Cornerstone mortgage in November 2006. Since then all available monies have been devoted to completing and furnishing the new Lower Level and necessary modifications to the Sanctuary. Once we are back in the sanctuary we will be turning our attention, and funding, to Cornerstone Center which will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in just 2 months!

construction log - 3.01.08

Construction  We are nearing the final days of construction in the sanctuary building. The Lower Level is an entirely new space with great colors and spaces and light. The clear windows are installed, the full glass back doors are in, surrounded by a new stone entrance. Upstairs, you’ll see the new travertine floor in the foyer, the lift (yet to come), and the smooth walls where the radiators used to be.

Moving Back  Be sure to be with us on Palm Sunday, March 16, to worship once again in our sanctuary. If you have joined our congregation since June 2007, and have not worshiped with us in the church building, you are in for a warm welcome with the lovely old wood and beautiful stained glass windows of our pre-20th century building.

Please remember that Saturday, March 15 will be a cleaning and move-in day. Everyone is invited for a sneak preview of the renovations... and to help us clean! We'll meet at the 1136 N. LaSalle Sanctuary at 9am. Snack and drinks will be provided.

construction log 2.06.08

Sanctuary Construction  The walls are up in the lower level! Drywall has all been installed so the shapes of the spaces are now clear.

Work is progressing on the sanctuary space as well – radiators have been removed, exposing a tangle of wiring in some areas and old, crumbling plaster in others. Electrical conduit will now be set into the walls and plastering and painting will make those walls even better than before the construction began. Some of the carpeting will be replaced to cover the holes left from the radiators.

Another meeting of the sanctuary facilities committee was held to decide on the finishes for floors, walls, and other surfaces and the final design of the entry areas. The back entry, off Elm Street, will be a much more functional and welcoming entrance. Take a look in that direction and you can see now that a little room has been built outside the entrance so the workers can work on it with some protection from the weather.

Most of the special items and furnishings – refrigerator, coffeemaker, chairs, tables, security system, etc. - have been funded by our ever-generous donors so the spaces will be well-equipped when we move in.

Moving In  Speaking of moving in, that date is now set for March 16, Palm Sunday. We had to delay this a bit from our previously-announced date because of a delay in the delivery of the lift. Hold March 15, the Saturday before Palm Sunday, on your calendars for a special day of cleaning and moving back to the sanctuary building.

Ministry Grants  You may recall that $50,000 of the capital campaign funds was set aside for the benefit of the ministries of LaSalle Street Church – Breaking Bread, Cabrini Green Legal Aid, Cornerstone Academy, Cornerstone Children’s Learning Center, Cornerstone Counseling Center of Chicago and LaSalle Senior Center. The Ministry Grants program is underway to allocate those funds to the ministries.

The directors and boards of the ministries have been invited to apply for a grant for a project that they believe would make the biggest impact in their ministry. Each ministry will have the opportunity to consult with Dick Beall, of Church Growth Ministries, regarding their proposal.

Those proposals will be reviewed by a committee of ministry people coordinated by Lois Scott. We are very grateful that we will have the experience and wisdom of Mike Ivers from Goodcity, Nancy Hall from Breakthrough Urban Ministries and Stacy French Reynolds from Anchor Advisors, Ltd., who have volunteered to be on this committee. Grants will be announced on June 1, 2008.

construction log 01.03.08

Much of the behind-the-walls construction has been finished this month. Soon those important electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems will be invisible, covered by drywall. The frame for the lift, from the lower level to the sanctuary level, is also in place.

February Move-In!  We are looking forward to moving back into the sanctuary early in February. We will keep you posted with the exact date as we get closer. There is a lot of dust to be cleaned up and items to be moved back to the sanctuary from Cornerstone so please plan on spending part of a Saturday on a building-wide cleaning bee!

Special Items Needed   As we anticipate moving into the new space we also see that we will need new equipment to enable us to use our space effectively.

You know how LaSallers love coffee! We have selected a professional-capacity coffee maker ($2000) and would love for it to be ready for our move-in celebration. If that sounds beyond your reach, please consider if you can donate a chair ($65) or table ($90) for children’s church, a refrigerator ($1000) or dishwasher ($300) for the new pantry or a speaker ($225) for the new AV system. We will also be installing a security system as funds allow. Check out the entire list on the opposite page.

Thank you for your ongoing support. The year-end giving for Building Faith, Raising Hope has been tremendous

construction log - 12.2.07

In the past month the spaces of the new lower level of the sanctuary building have begun to take shape. Steel studs define the rooms - the new multi-purpose room, restrooms, nursery, children’s church area and kitchen/serving area. A wide opening will provide a welcoming staircase from the foyer, dispelling the memory of the two-person width of the narrow stairs and hall from many years ago. We are opening our doors – and widening our halls!

There is more natural light flooding the space than ever before; windows that have been covered for years have been exposed again and are visible throughout the space. We are hoping that finances will allow for many of them to be replaced with clear glass, allowing us to see the outside garden to the north of the church.

Electrical, mechanical and plumbing work is progressing. New electrical service has been brought into the building and electrical conduit is being run. Air handlers are installed under the floor of the lower level.

The area in the sanctuary where the lift will go has been dismantled. Huge joists were uncovered in that area. Although bearing no significant weight they were apparently part of the overly-sturdy construction techniques of a century ago.

Thanks to all of you, regular and generous gifts continue to come in. This is especially important as we are in the most cash-intensive time of the construction project.

construction log - 11.16.07

Today most of the studs for the inner walls of the Lower Level are in place. You can walk around the space, in and out of “doors” to the rooms (or through the walls if you want to feel like Jesus for a minute), imagine the babies in the nursery, the kids in the Children’s Church space, and people mingling about in the all-purpose room, walk through the kitchen/servery area. It’s wonderful to have the windows visible from so many places in the Lower Level; the natural light lends an open feeling.

construction log - 11.05.07

This past week saw progress of a different sort in the sanctuary building – nothing big and dramatic but signs that a new stage of construction has begun. A variety of trades will be working there now – electrical, mechanical, plumbing.

Electrical/HVAC - New electrical service has been brought into the building. Electrical conduit for the A/C condensers has been run, to where the condensers will be located outside on the south side of the building. Air handlers have arrived and are situated under the floor of the lower level. The components of the boiler have been picked up by a scrap metal scavenger; STL is dedicated to recycling.

Lift - The concrete slab for the lift has been poured, just a little below floor height in the lower level. The area of the sanctuary where the lift will go has been dismantled. Huge joists were uncovered in that area. Although bearing no significant weight, they were apparently just part of the overly-sturdy construction techniques of a century ago.

construction log - 10.26.07

"The floor is raised! Now you can walk directly through the back door onto the new, street-height floor of the lower level. Joists, a little extra heavy-duty because of the anticipated load, were installed this week as well as the plywood subfloor. The ceiling height feels spacious – a little of that will be lost to flooring and ceiling materials, and in some areas, duct work, but is still more than adequate.

The boiler has been removed and a new vent for the boiler room is cut to the outside.

Art Perkins has begun work on removing the woodwork in the sanctuary to accommodate the lift. It was interesting that the woodwork comes apart and fits together in long strips, rather like wood laminate flooring or wainscoting. As we stood where the lift will be, and imagined its placement and proportion, I believe we will be very happy with how it fits in the sanctuary and is minimally obtrusive in both space and appearance.

-- LOIS SCOTT, Chief Administrator, LaSalle Street Church & The LaSalle Foundation

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