St. Edmund's Parish

St. Edmund's Parish marked the 140th anniversary of the original land purchase for St. Edmund's Church with an Anniversary Tithing Campaign.

The purpose of the campaign is to increase parish income to provide for the future of the parish and to give back to God a portion of what he has given.

A major initiative of the campaign is to address the need for repairs and upkeep of the parish facilities. The scaffolding is in place to begin much needed repairs on the church.

High winds ripped the rain gutter from the roof and whipped it against this cement block chimney on the rectory, widening a flaw in the cement blocks. At right is the chimney after repairs made possible by the tithing campaign.

The large chimney on the rectory needs to be rebuilt from the roof line up. Three of the four supports for the chimney top are disintegrating.

The church steeple was last painted over 20 years ago. Since then several pieces of siding have blown off, and the roof needs repairs.

Don Deso of Champlain, New York is shown here working on the repair and painting of the church steeple.

The church steeple after completion of this phase of the renovation project.

During the winter, smoke was seen exiting the chimney of the church near the roof line. The chimney posed a significant safety concern. Repairs on the chimney have now been completed as seen at right.

The parish hall is also in need of repairs.

The hall is used for our Religious Education program, as a nutrition site for Senior Citizens, and for dinners, meetings, teen dances, and other parish functions.

It is also used by the United Methodist and Wesleyan Churches in Ellenburg for their religious education programs.

The front door of the hall, seen at right, needs to be replaced.

The floor of the parish hall is over 40 year old and the tiles are disintegrating. The floor needs to be replaced.

The parish received a strong show of support at the 140th Anniversary Tithing Dinner. A large number of parishioners turned out to hear the presentation on the Tithing Campaign and to make a commitment to the future of the parish.