A SUMMER MAKEOVER FOR ALL SOULS

The most visible was the cleaning and patching of the limestone and terracotta on the outside of the main church building. Scaffolding was erected three quarters of the way to the steeple. All the surfaces that appeared to be grey were power washed and patched where needed, revealing the true yellow color of the limestone window frames and bas relief columns flanking the doors of the church that had been painted grey many years ago. It required an expert to do a test patch, and on his recommendation, the paint was removed with a special acid before the columns and frames were also power washed. This repair work is still under way on weekdays.

Inside the church, the ceiling above the organ pipes in the choir loft, which previously had been repaired after a leak, but not repainted, received a new coat of paint. Men from the Holtkamp Organ Company came in from Cleveland to remove most of the pipes and to cover others to protect them from dripping paint. Scaffolding was required for the paint job, but it and its veil of plastic sheeting has now been removed after the experts came back on September 4th to replace the pipes.

Our computer system has also been upgraded with a relational database. This will now allow greater coordination between the databases of different groups within the church and permit greater selectivity for mailings to different groups of members. The new database will now permit the cross-selection of members listed in the different databases within the church who work for different committees, are donors of different categories or are listed in different ways in different places, helping to avoid redundancy.