St. John’s sees benefits from church greening
The congregation at St. John’s United Church in Creemore is already seeing the financial benefits of an effort to fix up the church, and make it more efficient.
Paul Ruppel and Walter Lucas oversaw the bulk of the improvements made to the church in recent years.
They say the church was in pretty bad shape seven years ago, when they embarked on the project. At that time, said Ruppel, if it rained and the wind was from a certain direction, he could see from his pew water running down the wall.
The work began by adding steel cladding to the back wall, which stopped the leaks. After that, the church was better insulated and the cracks in all the old windows were repaired.
In 2012, the church embarked on a major accessibility renovation, extending the ramp and adding an accessible washroom.
In an effort to reduce power usage, all the light bulbs were replaced by LED lights.
Then in 2015, Lucas oversaw an energy audit, which resulted in a number of recommendations for more efficiencies.
As a result, they added more insulation in the attic, waterproofed the crawlspace and insulated the subfloor. They had a bit of a surprise, said Lucas, when they had to spend an extra $20,000 to have asbestos removed from the premises.
They also switched from baseboard heating to a natural gas furnace, which is expected to pay for itself in savings in about three years. The new furnace also has programmable wi-fi compatible thermostats that can be adjusted remotely.
All in all, the 67-member congregation raised about $110,000 through donations, grants and contributions from the St John’s Gals to pay for the work, with some borrowing as well.
In addition to making the church more welcoming for worshippers, the improvements also serve to make the facility more appealing for weddings, funerals and community events. The church is for rent and has been a venue for several concerts over the years, most recently the Creemore Choral Festival.
There are still some things on the church’s to-do list but the majority of the work has been done.
In its ongoing effort to modernize, St. John`s United Church has also setup a new website. Visit stjohnscreemore.ca.
