Peter S sent me this photo and said the new windows are being installed in fellowship hall and plumbing is being added for the new radiators. Heat and light how exciting! It is exciting to see daylight in the building after almost a full year. Thank you Peter for the update and photo.
Part 1 of this update is from an email sent by Peter S to the fire committee. No point in me rewriting it as he did an excellent job covering what is happening:
Friends:
The Skinner Organ has been disassembled and will be packed into a truck tomorrow morning. Lots of pieces including a 500 pound blower motor that rode a sled down the steeple spiral stair.
We had a productive meeting with some Session and church members to imagine the basement kitchen layout. Just in time as plumbing and electrical began in earnest on Monday. Thanks to those who provided input.
Radiators have been installed and piped.
We do have a problem with some frozen parts in the boiler room and a leaky gas main. Central Hudson is coming tomorrow morning to asses the situation (some of the problem may be theirs) and Frank Connolly is working on the gas line and leaking pieces of the furnace.
There are some minor maintenance items that will need to be addressed in the coming months. Cleaning around the now vacant organ loft, tightening floor boards in the sanctuary before carpet placement, clean organize the hood fan in the basement (this is a hanging liability – a much more expensive hood might be required as we plan to move back into the building), cleaning and polishing the wood work at the front of the church, and the list will keep growing.
Progress is underway.
Peter S
And to continue the progress, our beautiful Skinner Organ has left the building. The Foley Baker team has entirely disassembled, packed up and put everything on a huge truck and has taken every piece to their location for the full restoration. These photos were taken on the Friday morning before the loading of the truck began. It was bitter cold that day (13 degrees that felt like 10 or lower – I attached also a screenshot of the wether report), I sure don’t envy the workers.
I stopped by the church on Friday, January 22 to check out the progress on the organ restoration/removal. There were 5 or 6 technicians working diligently to take our Skinner organ apart for transport to their location. I asked one of them about their work and was told that they are removing every part of the organ for the restoration. They were working to carefully dismantle all of the parts in the great and the swell (where the pipes are to the right and left of the console). I joked and asked what they do when they put it back together if they find they have extra pieces (there are A LOT of pieces) and he told me that they label every part as to where it goes back in, including the screws! And I thought a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle was difficult) Here are some pics of the pipes and pieces already removed and ready for trucking back to they location.
And thank you to Jim F (at least I am assuming he did this) for fortifying the stained glass window aera to the left of the pulpit area so the heat does not escape!
Have a great week! I will do my best to get back to the church for another update next week – Foley Baker are to finish their removal work by then.
Happy Inauguration Day! I hope this update finds you all happy (as is possible with all of the stress) and health.
I am excited to share this update with you – the organ restoration has begun!! The Foley Baker Organ Company started on Monday to remove our beloved Skinner Organ to take it to their facility for cleaning and restoration. Peter S provided the following pics taken on Tuesday to show the beginning of this work. I will try to get there a few times to document their progress over the next weeks, They hope to have all of the parts removed by the end of the month. This work is completely covered by our insurance.
Also hard at work are American Eagle Electricians and CDR Alarm Company running wires in Fellowship Hall
And I left the “best for last”. Calvary, through the efforts of John, Kate, Carter and Jack, joined the ringing of church and cathedral bells though the county in memory of the over 400,000 souls lost to COVID in the United States. The bell ringing coincided with the start of the national COVID-19 memorial service at the Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool in Washington DC on Tuesday night January 19, 2021.
Thank you to the Clarke family,
I hope you all had a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving. We did at our house.
I stopped by Calvary last week and was surprised when I walked in to see that it was so bright. Everything, or at least most everything, in the Fellowship Hall building has been painted white. I was surprised to see that the restoration company had painted the framing and stone church walls that are exposed, who paints framing? So I contacted them to find out why. Good reason… the paint is specially formulated to seal in the smoke smell, and I have to say, it seemed to work because I did notice that the building did not have a smoky smell. The brightness was such a striking difference from when I walked in on March 6th that I wanted to share this with you. The first 4 pictures below show March 6th and December 3rd – we have come a long way
Below are more pictures showing the offices and upstairs.
We are to the 3rd week of Advent. It is interesting how quickly yet how slowly this year has passed. I pray that you can experience the peace of Advent and Christmas that the peace continues into the new year of 2021. Please stay safe and healthy and please wear a mask.
Some more news from the Calvary Restoration!
In two updates ago I told you the story of the restoration of our handbells and the wonderful response to my request for donations to “rescue” them. Well the good news is that the refurbishment has been completed by Schulmerich Handbell Company and they have been returned to Newburgh. They are being stored safely at Norman Brothers Moving and Storage until our bell choir can, once again, prepare music for our worship services and attend the Hudson Valley Handbell Festival. (Though as we know that could be a while as we battle Covid)
Also in that update I told you that we have the go-ahead from the insurance company to proceed with the restoration of our Skinner Organ. This picture, provided by Peter S, is from November 4 when Foley Baker Company came to check out the organ to plan the start the disassembly and moving of the pipes to their workshop.
As a follow up to the update on October 29, I stopped in at the church today and found that the carpenters have done a lot of work on framing in fellowship hall. Here is how it looked today.
The framing for the new bathrooms with Pastor J’s office in the background:
The framing for the new kitchen area:
Framing for the storage area to the right side of the stage:
The music closet and stage area:
Helen’s Office:
So we continue to move forward and rebuild our church. My prayer is that our country can start to move forward and rebuild also. Hoping and praying you are all safe and well.
As I mentioned in my previous update, the carpenters have started the framing work in Fellowship Hall. When I stopped by today the men were hard at work in Pastor J’s and Helen’s offices and in one of the upstairs rooms. Here are a few photos.
A short update but some fantastic musical news:
Though the determination and tenacity of Luke P and the fire committee, an agreement has been reached with the insurance company to allow Foley Baker Organ company to complete the clean up and restoration of our wonderful Skinner Organ with the cost being covered completely by insurance. This is a long process but we have the go ahead for Foley Baker to soon start the process by disassembling the instrument and transporting it to their location. They will then soon start working on it (I believe that will be in March of 2021). Thank you to Luke, the fire committee, the insurance company and Foley Baker for the continued work to come to this agreement.
And continuing good news, I asked a few weeks ago for assistance in paying for the additional costs incurred in the refurbishment of our handbells. I want to let you know that we have received enough to cover the extra costs plus $900 additional that will remain in the budget for the bell choir for use once we are able to continue our musical ministry. Thanks goes out to our donors: “anonymous”, Mary Ellen W., Karin and John W., Susan N., Pat V. and John and Dawn S.
Other news briefs: We have our building permit to for the work in Fellowship Hall. We have agreement of the floor plans for the hall to move the handicapped bathrooms to the south side of the building and add a kitchen area to the north side, where the handicapped bathrooms used to be. Pastor J’s office will remain where it was but what was Helen’s office will become a conference room and Helen’s office will now be across the hall from Pastor J’s office. . Framing of the new layout should be started soon. Discussion has been continuing about the best choices for HVAC and flooring
I have really enjoyed working on the fire committee. Everyone in the group brings their live experiences and knowledge to every discussion. This mix seems to uncover every angle of any situation and the resulting decisions are very well thought out. We don’t accept any thing without a full understanding. I believe the fire committee really has the church’s “back”!
And one more thing – VOTE!
I finally have something to report! Seems like a long time since much has happened at the church but this week Belfor came back and removed all of the debris in the sanctuary and also removed the carpeting. The original tile is now exposed. Here are some pictures provided by Glenn and Jennie H.
Also progress has been made toward the restoration of fellowship hall with the formal decision that a sprinkler system is not required. Since was confirmed, plans for a new floor layout are being drawn up by the architect and Belfor is working on finding out exactly what the insurance will cover. We have our building permit for the rehab and hopefully the plans will be finalized soon and work can start to get our fellowship hall back on its road to “recovery”. You will be hearing more about the plans in the week or so.
Now about news our bells and chimes: As you all know, the day of the fire, with the help of Peter S., I removed the handbells and chimes from the church to keep them safe. Here is the story of their journey from that day until now:
I live on the 3rd floor of my building and installed a hoist to bring items (in particular wood pellets for our stove) upstairs, rather than have to lug them up the 2 flights of stairs. This came in really handy for getting the chime and bell cases to my home. Here’s a video of our hoisting one of the larger cases up.
So with Kris’ help, I got all of the smokey cases with the bells and chimes in them on my 3rd floor porch. The cases were permeated with smoke so they had to stay outdoors for a bit, but were protected by the porch roof and tarps. Once arrangements had been made with Befor to, as I call it, de-smoke-a-fie the cases, we moved all of the bells and chines (almost 100) to my 2nd floor for storage on the floor of a spare room and all cases were taken by Belfor. Meanwhile approval for cleaning of both chimes and bells were received from the insurance company and I arranged to get them both scheduled for the work. About a month ago both Malmark (chimes) and Schulmerich (bells) contact me to arrange for the instruments to be shipped to them for the cleaning. So Belfor brought the cases back and the instruments packed up and picked up by UPS.
Neither the bells nor the chimes have had any work done on them for almost 20 years and you know our bell choir uses (or did before Covid) for rehearsals every week for an hour and a half, preformed using them in church about 20 times a year and also used them to attend the Hudson Valley Handbell Festival, and all day event held annually. So in short they have been well used. As you would expect there has been wear and tear on the instruments and this damage is not covered by insurance.
The chimes refurbishment has been completed and the additional cost above what the insurance covered was about $275, a cost that was covered by a special donation. The chimes have been returned and are in storage at Normal Brothers (thanks to Roy and Peg P).
The handbells on the other hand are still at Schulmerich and we have received the quote for additional parts not covered by insurance because they are wear and tear. This additional cost is about $2000. I have been told that the money is not available from the church’s treasury to complete this project. So I am turning to you to help out. The total value of these bells is over $50,000, the insurance company is covering about $3000 of cleaning work on the bells so now it is up to you to help out, If you can make a special donation to help the bell choir “bail out” their beloved bells, please make your check payable to “Calvary Presbyterian Church” and send it to Calvary Presbyterian Church, 120 South Street, Newburgh NY 12550. If you prefer to use a credit card or PayPal you can do this through our website Be sure to note that the donation is for the bell choir so they get credit for the income and it goes to the correct expense. Thank you ahead for your help.
As always this update comes with prayers and wishes for everyone that they are in good health and that life is good for you all.
I know it has been weeks since you have heard from me about any updates for the Calvary Restoration but things at the church have come to a pause, this time not caused by the pandemic! We have arrived at the point in time where decisions need to be made about the actual restoration of Fellowship Hall. These decisions include the possible floor plan changes, upgrades to the HVAC and many other concerns that will effect the future use of the building. Because we are working with the insurance company and the code requirements of Newburgh and the State of New York, there are a lot of things to take into consideration. The fire committee continues to look out of the best interests of the Calvary family and are not letting anything go without complete consideration and research. The committee is a very tenacious and intelligent group that works well together and it is a joy to be part of. So even if you don’t hear from me please know that work continues even if it is not the physical building of walls.
I also can report that the handbells have been returned to the Schulmerich Handbell Company and are in the process of being cleaned and refurbished. The choir chimes have gone to Malmark and the refurb on them has been completed. They have been shipped to Norman Brothers (Roy P) for storage with the other items from Calvary. Upon completion the handbells will also be shipped there. I so miss returning to bell choir rehearsals again but socially distancing would be very difficult for the choir! I know the entire bell choir is feeling the same way.
Hope you are all staying healthy and safe. I will send another update as things progress but they will probably not be weekly until reconstruction starts up again.