Sanctuary Beautification Project
“I built a house to your name, a house holy to You,
and prepared for You a place to dwell forever.”
2 Chronicles 6:2
Many of you recall when we moved into the Arthur L. Sarris Community Center in 1992 (and held services in the community center for 5 months) and our new Sanctuary in 1993, at our current location at the corner of Hillcrest and Alpha. Since then, we have completed 3 phases of Iconography in the Sanctuary. For the past 27 years, we all have been blessed to worship in this beautiful and magnificent temple – our Lord’s holy house!
When we originally designed the Sanctuary, it was intended to include a hard surface flooring throughout the structure. Due to a number of factors, including cost, we decided to install marble only on the solea and in the altar area and carpet the remainder. We have had to replace much of the carpet in both the Sanctuary and Chapel (several times in some places) and the necessity exists to do so again.
Spurred by a generous donation from a family of our Holy Trinity parish, and after much thought and analysis of our original plan, we will soon commence on a beautification project to install hard surface flooring throughout most of the Sanctuary and Narthex as well as several places in the Chapel. Remaining floor areas will have new carpet installed.
The flooring will be Terrazzo tile to blend with the existing color scheme of the marble. The carpet will be similar to the existing carpet in some areas and a gold hue in other areas. Several areas of the Terrazzo tile flooring will include various Byzantine designs.
In addition to the new flooring and carpet, we will be doing the following enhancements:
- Upgrade our entire sound system
- Install new lighting in several places
- Clean and repair the marble surfaces on the solea, in the altar, and the candle stands/pangari in the Narthex.
- Repair and refinish the pews and kneelers
- Repaint all the white walls throughout the Church.
The estimated cost of this project is ~$300,000. Approximately 60% of the cost (all of the flooring and flooring related costs) will be covered by the generous donation, while approximately 15% will be contributed from unused restricted funds of previously completed fundraising projects. This leaves approximately 25% to be raised from donations by our parishioners, and we are initiating a capital campaign to raise the remaining funds.
We are planning on commencing with the project next week on January 14, with an estimated completion date of March 26. As such, all services including sacraments and blessings, beginning with Vespers on January 16 and through the Feast of Annunciation on March 25, will be held in the ALS Community Center. Live streaming of all services will be in place from the ALS CC during this period.
We realize this will be an inconvenience to several of our parishioners, ministries and organizations. However, due to scheduling challenges and availability of contractors, as well as the fact that we are not yet at full capacity (though we hope and pray that will be soon as God wills!), we determined this to be the optimal time to complete the Sanctuary beautification project.
We extend to all of you our thanks for your commitment and love to our parish and your participation in our Lord’s work of salvation.
May the Lord our God continue to bestow His abundant blessings
upon us all!
The Clergy and Parish Council of
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Parish