Dear Friends,
WOW. So many people! So many helpers! Time went so fast! We ran out of food! The wonderful article in the Omaha World-Herald by Erin Grace brought us lots of new faces and helped explain to the community our parish’s deep commitment to helping our school as it helps educate a new generation of immigrant children. One generation of immigrant children helping a new generation of immigrant children. Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! To all of you! May the celebration continue to grow and thrive for many years to come.
I have gotten a number of questions about the progress on our use of the Christ Child building. We are presently getting bids on some basic work that needs to be done on the building and having other parts of the building evaluated. Some initial rehabilitation work could begin in May and prior to that we may need volunteers to help us clear out old stuff…If everything goes smoothly and according to our desires then this is the time line:
On the second floor: work on new windows and doors, repainting the offices and meeting rooms, new carpet in offices and meeting rooms will be done in late May and June. It is hoped that we can begin using this level by July. Of course, this is a very hopeful timeline and may not happen as planned.
On the main level: work to convert the large classroom into two smaller classrooms with new paint, windows and carpet will take place over the summer to be ready by August for the start of a new school year. All Saints School plans on moving the Kindergarten and Pre-school programs over to this building which will free up area in the school for a music room and STEM lab. The bathrooms near the new classrooms in the Christ Child building will be converted to children’s bathrooms over the summer. The gym will be cleaned and repainted over the summer to be ready for use by August. The gym will be available for use by children and adult teams who need gym space.
The pool area: this will be converted into a large multi-purpose facility for the parish and community. It will be used for larger meetings, receptions, funeral dinners, etc. This will require lots of construction and remodeling. It is hoped that design work can begin this summer and some initial construction could begin as soon as November. I imagine that the first use of this area for large meetings and dinners will be at least a year away. For those of you who thought the pool would reopen – I am sorry. With an almost 50 year-old pool, the only way to have an efficient pool is to build a new one and that we cannot afford. The expense to run a pool is more than the parish can afford even if we had memberships for the pool.
The third floor apartment: Some of the apartment will be used by the Christ Child Society for office and storage. The remainder will be a multi-use area. It might be possible, in the future, to rent it out as an apartment again.
If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call. Once we have a better idea of the cost of the rehab of the building, we may be coming to you to help figure out a way to pay for it all. On another note, the work on the bells will be done in June and the tuck-pointing of the tower will follow later in the summer. Thanks to all who have donated to get our historic bells ringing again!
Peace,
Fr. Damian