As I look at this site, our original post dates back to 2007. Never let it be said that we rushed into this decision. The exciting news is that at our annual meeting (May 20, 2012) the membership of Wayside voted for "Option 3", which will expand our restrooms and bring them up to ADA standards, expand our kitchen and expand and renovate our Fellowship Hall. The price tag on this project is $650,000 and we will secure a construction loan / mortgage from the United Church of Christ Cornerstone Fund, Inc.
Our capital campaign raised $500,000 in commitments over the next three years, so we have some more fund-raising to do, but we are confident that we have made the right decision.

Part of my goal is to become more "blog savy", so I can post up-dates and photos as things progress. We are working with HHJ Construction (Fife, WA) which is a design/build firm. Once the loan is secured, the permitting process will begin. In the meantime, our Project Team, HHJ and members of the congregation will be refining our plans so they turn into working documents. Once construction begins, I will keep you posted at least weekly, with photos and up-dates.

Moving Forward
Some things have come together over the last few months. The Church Council moved ahead to approve using HHJ (of Fife) as a design-build group to help us through the initial phase of coming to grips with pricing and design. A Project Team, composed of Jack Anderson, Judy Turpin, Chuck Holcom and Dennis Hollinger-Lant, was instructed to work with HHJ and bring information back to the Council. Tonight is the night!! Jack Anderson will be presenting figures and a sketch to the Council on behalf of the Project Team. The Council will decide how to move forward from here.
Stay tuned in for more information.

Meeting Sept 29

There will be a meeting at 6:30 pm Wednesday evening, September 29^th, to talk about what a design/build group does and how they can serve Wayside.

Improvements Made

Thanks to the cooperation of the Church Council and the efforts of our Director of Facilities, Chris Shaw, improvements were made to the women's restroom. New toilets were installed and new flooring was put down. Myrna H., John H., Gail S., Dot W. and Carla H. were also instrumental in the improvements. They stripped old wallpaper and hung new. New light fixtures were installed and woodwork was painted.

In the midst of all of this, Patrick L., Effie B. and I attended a seminar in Lacy sponsored by a church design/construction firm. Now that Pat is back, some proposals will probably be coming to the Church Council. Considering where the economy is right now, it's not a great time to be raising capital funds, but it never hurts to lay the groundwork for what we want to do.

Did I mention that Chris helped us change routers, so we now have wireless access in the Youth Room, the Chapel, Fellowship Hall and the Memorial Lounge?

At the January Council Meeting, funds were approved to make similar improvements to the men's restroom. What would really help is a "space expander" for both of these facilities. Look for these improvements in the near future.

Building and Capital Fund Committee Appointed

Jan Weider, Chris Shaw and Norris Peterson have agreed to serve on the building and capital fund committee which will be establishing a separate account for building renovation needs.

Survey results -- priorities

The results from the recent survey showed the following priority order of possible improvement projects at Wayside - project with most support listed first:


Remodel and enlarge men’s and ladies’ restrooms

Improve acoustics of fellowship hall

Enlarge and reorganize office space including storage areas

Remodel the education wing including the nursery

Increase the size of the fellowship hall

Remodel the kitchen

Tie for last place -- enclose entrances to Sunday School rooms and extend the portico

Cornerstone Fund

One option for funding advice and assistance is the Cornerstone Fund. Information about this UCC investment and loan operation can be obtained from their website at www.cornerstonefund.org. The staff there is willing to give advice to UCC congregations who are planning to renovate or build as well as to loan money for these purposes.
They have a brochure in pdf format that can be downloaded from their site.