Cleansing the Temple [or, what happened to the carpet!?]
When we made the decision to put carpet in our sanctuary at State Street in 2010, we hadn't yet started our community meal. It wasn't even a dream of ours yet. Our community meal happens every Monday at lunchtime. Sunday [after our final church gathering] volunteers stack the chairs in the sanctuary and, on Monday, the tables and chairs are set up to convert our sanctuary to a cafeteria. We try to maintain a seriousness about meals that are rivaled only by the Hobbits of the Shire. Over 100 people typically gather around the table with our volunteers and share a great meal. Feeding hungry folks has been a great source of communal integration and interaction for us. Our community comes alive during this time. It's one of my favorite things we get to do at State Street.
One of the unforeseen tragedies of our community meal [and Sunday gatherings] is the spilling that has happened on our sanctuary carpet.
We made the decision recently to remove the carpet. Last night, a dozen or so volunteers from State Street arrived to remove the [disgusting] carpet. Within a half hour, all of the carpet was removed.
In its place we will have installed a concrete overlay product. It will be easier to mop and clean spills. This overlap will be installed within the next few weeks. Eventually, this type of flooring will be installed in the foyer, bathrooms, hallways, and many of the rooms of the new addition. Here's a YouTube video to give you an idea of what the product is like and what installation looks like:
Over the new few months, things will be changing to our building. On top of this flooring project, we are hoping to start the renovation of the men's bathroom. If all goes as planned in our fundraising goal (we need roughly $3,000 to meet our $200,000 goal), we will attempt to start the construction project this Fall as well. It's an exciting time for our community.
