On Sunday, May 8, we kicked off a capital campaign to repave our parking lot. Our parking lot is now 50 years old, well past the typical 20 year life of an asphalt lot. The potholes are a hazard to cars and people alike and the disintegrating asphalt makes life hard for our grounds crew.
Let’s be honest: none of us really wants to spend money repairing a parking lot. It’s not the most glamorous of projects, and it’s certainly hard to make a direct connection between convenient parking and effective ministry. Nevertheless, part of being good hosts and good stewards of our church resources is maintaining our building and grounds, including the parking lot. That’s why we collectively, as a congregation, approved a capital funds drive to repave the parking lot and create a maintained and welcoming experience for the many guests who share our building with us.
So what will it take to get the job done? The engineering estimate for the repair is $150,000. If you consider this cost over the 20+ year life of the lot, it isn’t such a bad deal: $7000 per year, or $20/day. Put another way, if we have 50 cars at church each Sunday, then the average cost is $3 per car per week over the life of the lot.
At the last congregational meeting, the congregation approved a target of $75,000 which will enable us to solicit bids and begin construction: $50,000 cash in hand and another $25,000 in pledges. So far, we as a church family have contributed about $13,187 to the parking lot repair fund, so we’re already 17% of the way to that $75,000 goal! Of course, to reduce the need to take out a loan, which would mean additional burden in the general budget in coming years, we hope to raise more than that $75,000 target.
As you are able, please consider donating a little extra this year or next year to help AWCC with the much-needed parking lot repair. We’ve attached a pledge card to this email which you can fill out and drop in the offering box, or you can email Karen Snuffer at kfsnuffer@yahoo.com. Thank you for doing your part to keep AWCC a safe and welcoming place for our community to gather.
Steve & Krista Frank