As many of you know, St. Luke’s has been working closely with St. Andrew’s and the Board of Directors of The Martin Luther King Cultural Center (the Center) to bring to fruition, a proposal by the Center to expand their programs to St. Luke’s Parish Hall. Our committee, consisting of Warden Olu Akiwumi-Assani, Vestry Members Chris Colon and Greg Strong, as well as lay-members Judy Masterson and Jim Booth has met with the committee from St. Andrew’s and the Center on two occasion’s and all attended a public meeting at St. Andrew’s on April 7, 2010. It is our intent to meet again on Saturday April 24, 2010 to finalize the remaining details and formally accept the proposal.
The Center has served the residents of Beacon for over 40 years. It provides after-school learning and sports development to children in the Beacon school district; jobs training and placement services for teens; and meals and transportation services for seniors. Over those 40 years, St. Andrews has provided space at no cost and Episcopal Charities, The Dyson Foundation, County and State agencies, the City of Beacon, and others have provided financial support.
In the fall of last year, the Center’s Executive Director, Dot Paulin, approached Fr. Alagna of St. Andrew’s and asked him about the possibility of working with St. Luke’s to expand the Center into their parish hall. The initial inquiry by Fr. Alagna was carried to the Wardens and Vestry by Fr. Cromey, and the Vestry expressed it’s openness to the idea and that it was interested in St. Luke’s taking an active interest in the endeavor.
Moving to St. Luke’s will take the Center from 1,000 square feet to almost 6,000. The parish hall is ideally suited to the work of the Center, who will make use of one wing of classrooms and administrative office space in the basement, as well as the Great Hall above, where they can offer more expansive programs in art, drama, dance, martial arts, and gymnastics. Fr. Alagna has expressed a personal desire of his to put together a “Beacon Chorus”, and the stage in the Great Hall would be perfect for such an undertaking. The Center expects to be able to expand it’s academic offerings to homework tutoring, remedial learning, and even advanced learning curriculum’s as a result of the additional space. This in turn opens additional sources of funding to them, such as from the County Office of the Aging, which could allow them to offer, as an example of the possibilities, a senior day care program.
The Center will undertake full responsibility for the cost of cosmetic renovations to the building, and will pay it’s equitable share of operating and common area costs going forward. They will be replacing windows in the wing of classrooms currently boarded up, and plan to install a playground, secured by fencing along that side of the hall. Additionally they will be installing a handicapped accessible ramp for entry to the space, and retro-fitting a bathroom for handicapped accessibility as well.
St. Luke’s, as part of it’s ongoing commitment to the Building and Grounds of our parish, is investigating the heating system, with an eye to replacing it. You will recall that we recently lost the heating system in the church. The system in the parish hall is older yet, and beyond it’s normal expected life span.
I pray and trust that our Wardens and Vestry speak for us all, as we welcome this important organization into our parish. As we enlarge the ability of the Martin Luther King Cultural Center to serve the young and old of our community. As we decide to share and give back so much of what has been given to us.
If anyone has questions or concerns, they are encouraged to speak directly to the Committee, the Wardens, Vestry or Fr. Cromey.
