Cathedral Works is an initiative that the Cathedral of All Saints started in order to expand their ministries to the community. One of the pilot projects is refurbishing a building owned by the City Rescue Mission for use as transitional housing. Charles Dumas, one of the founders of Cathedral Works, wrote a letter to supporters after the first work day on Saturday, September 12. His letter is edited for inclusion here.
Deacon Christine Wickman reminds us that there will be another work day this Saturday, October 10. If you haven't participated in the renovation but would like to, this is another chance. Volunteers can contact Deacon Christine. Her email address is candtwickman@yahoo.com
Charles' letter:
Ten thousand "thank yous" for helping to make the launch of the Cathedral Works ministry an unqualified success! The good news is that we accomplished about 25% of the task, but that means that there remains more to be done. Remember, God never lays more before us than we can handle.
Task:
The Mission seeks to expand its Supportive Housing Program. To this end it has purchased a 45,000 square foot, former shirt factory located at 95 Trinity Place behind the Mission's current facilities. The Mission intends to convert it into 44 studio and one-bedroom apartments, a community banquet room, commercial kitchen, learning center, and a small gym for community use. The goal is to support formerly homeless individuals as they enter the job market and move toward independent living. This program will help individuals who complete the Mission's New Life Recovery Program, yet struggle to make ends meet and maintain sobriety in the community, where drugs and alcohol abound.
Initially, the building will require substantial contributions of manual labor to ready it to receive the necessary structures and materials that will comprise its renovation and conversion. The task of the Cathedral Works Pilot Project is to remove wood flooring from the 5th floor of the building.
Reflections:
I had a great sense of anticipation. Finally, the actual work will begin. Would those who had committed actually show? But show they did, loyal, faithful Cathedralites who I have come to know and love over the years:
Christine Wickman, our intrepid leader, and her daughter Caroline; Shane Gilchrest and his son Kent; Bill Smart; Colin Campbell; Suzanne McDermott; Keith St. John; Roger Murman.
Keith St. John observed that the area in which the Mission is located was the district he served for so many years as a member of the Albany Common Council. Roger Murman, a board member of the Mission, observed that Keith was instrumental in helping the Mission relocate from Hudson Avenue to its current place on South Pear. I guess there were all kinds of zoning and other wrinkles that Keith helped to iron out. A neat convergence of people!
We were joined by a sharp young man, Dave Sheehan, who is a coordinator of Christians ministries at local colleges, including SUNY and St. Rose who came to check us out to see if we were real, with the idea of bringing people back in the future.
We were eleven in all.
As we walked up the stairway we could see the signs of work that preceded us -- painting, leaning, new windows... there was life in the old girl! A floor had already been removed by forty Mennonites who had accomplished the task in seven hours on one day. Breathtaking... were we up to the task?
As we arrived at the fifth floor, it was clean and ready to receive our work, but Good Lord, it seemed more expansive than I remembered it to be just a few weeks earlier when we scoped out the project.
We wasted no time and got right to work, and work it was! I twas dirty, we sweat like horses in full gallop, and the dirt clung to our clothing, our bare skin and hair. The masks we were wearing made it hard to breath, particularly when they became saturated with perspiration. We drank water, but it left through our pores and quickly as we drank it.
We worked from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. straight, with breaks for water and to straighten our backs. we struggled and fought with the flooring and continually sought a better way. We each tried different techniques, and found a few that worked better than others. Shane developed a method of kicking the pry bar under the flooring, then using leverage to "pop" the wood up. Shane became a floor removal machine. He has a strong back. Everyone worked with great enthusiasm.
We broke for lunch, provided by the Mission in the dining hall. As we were clearing up, at the request of the Mission, Christine offered a fifteen minute devotional in the Chapel for the workers and residents of the Mission. We ate in the dining hall with the residents. We were served by a group of young women from St. Rose College who were volunteering for the day at the Mission. It was interesting to watch them work. They were nervous at first. I think that for man it was their first experience at the Mission, but they seemed to relax after a fashion and truly get into their experience.
During lunch I had a nice chance to get to know Dave Sheehan a bit. We traded stories about broken legs, he having injured himself playing soccer. Dave is new to the Capital District, having last made his home in New Mexico. When I asked about his work, he said simply and humbly that he is working with young people in area colleges to see if we can't think of one another and speak to one another in a more Christlike way... kind of a powerful thought.
Also during lunch, and quite importantly, Shane came up with the notion of cutting the floor with a circular saw at six-foot intervals so as to eliminate the fight we were having with the flooring that had been laid originally in random lengths. Shane secured use of a circular saw with carbide blade and off we went to the work zone at about 12"30 p.m. Shane did his cutting with the saw, and instantly our fight with the floor was over. Mind you, it did not remove itself, but the job became much easier. Thank you Shane!
We broke for the day, and none too soon, by 2 p.m. In all we removed approximately 2,100 square feed of 3/4 inch, tongue and groove, maple flooring. By my reckoning, this represents about 25% of the work. So, with four more weeks and some fresh blood, this seems to be quite doable.
Dave's parting words to me were to the effect that, "I think I can get back here with some more workers."
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