Emmanuel Lutheran Church
Annual Report of the Council Chair 2002The year 2002 was an exciting year. We began the year with a Master Plan that identified needs as immediate (to be done as soon as possible), medium range (within 3 to 5 years) and long range (5 years or more).
The condition of the carpet in the sanctuary and accessibility of the front steps were identified as immediate needs to be addressed right away. The money for upgrades to the building had been set aside from Memorial Funds over the last several years and has paid for new siding. There was enough left in the fund for carpet and some remodeling of the worship space. The remodeling of the worship space and the accessibility issues were addressed in meetings with both Don Neraas and Sue Lani Madsen. Sue Lani Madsen of Madsen Mitchell Evanson and Conrad Architects in Spokane and Edwall was chosen as architect of record. Sue Lani has been a Reardan-Edwall neighbor for years and has a good feel for community expectations and our direction to preserve the atmosphere of our wonderful old building. Sue Lani created some ideas to get us going and we started with the carpet project. It was a case of “before we do this, we should do that” and the end result was opening up the altar area, moving the communion rails down and eliminating the upper platform to create a more open altar area. The ladies of ELCW worked hard to bring several carpet samples to the congregation to help in making the choice. The high school football team helped remove and replace the pews and altar. Leo Tomayko, Jim Graham, and Brian Page spearheaded the carpentry work. The result is a refreshed worship space. Little items like trim, finishing the back of the altar and possible construction of a storage cabinet for banner and parament storage behind the altar remain to be done to complete this piece of the Master Plan. Time of year, some general fund budget constraints and some planning and engineering left to do, all halted the progress until 2003.
The accessibility issues are being addressed with the concept of a new entry area with new steps and an elevator, all inside the building. There is still money in the Memorial Savings Account to be used for the next step, but it is possible that fundraising will have to occur to have enough to finish the project. Dan Jordan, an engineer with Coffman Engineers in Spokane has graciously volunteered to help with the engineering and drafting. The Council has discussed contacting one of the groups of volunteer Lutheran carpenters and contractors for help with the actual construction of the new entry.
The Child Center has outgrown the space we have made available for child care and we also identified a community need for Elder Care. We are investigating possibly a new facility to house the Child Center and some apartments for Assisted Living for our grandparent generation here in the Reardan area. There have been several successful programs in other areas that provide interaction between these two generations that we are looking into. In September, a salad supper was held for interested parties from the Child Center and the congregation to begin the discussion on this multi-generational care facility. The Child Center was charged to come back to the Council with a dream plan of a new Child Center. It was agreed that since the needs of children and elders are so similar that perhaps we could expand our ministry to the community with a new combined facility. If we could have had 4 apartments for elders this fall, we believed they could have been full. It is very possible that grant moneys could be obtained to help with the planning, building and programs of this facility. We would like to see this discussion continued.
This past fall, the Council spent long hours in discussion about the financial condition of Emmanuel. We are comforted somewhat that we are not the only organization that is suffering these same hardships. The possibilities of war and the instabilities of day-to-day life seem to be taking their toll. We are also comforted that unemployment does not seem to be a significant factor. We are so grateful for the special gifts in response to the appeal at the end of the year. We are committed to seeing the budget deficit made up before we move ahead with any new projects, but we believe that planning should continue so that when the time is right, we can begin with the next step.
In extending the Master Plan out for another year, perhaps an item for Spiritual Growth should be added. The Master Plan we have now addresses only facility items. A good Master Plan recognizes what has been accomplished and extends the plan out to the next step. The Master Plan is an agenda item for the Annual Meeting.
I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve you as Council Chair. This has been an exciting year and I look forward to whatever God has in store for us as Emmanuel’s people in Reardan in 2003.
In His Service,
Claudia Holtz, Council Chair
