2 September 2021 Greetings and Happy September!
It has been a few weeks since our last What’s Brewing and there is a great deal to catch up on! It is certainly a
busy time at Yorkshire Church.
It is great to see our choir together again! They had their first practice last Thursday evening in the Sanctuary and a great time of fellowship was enjoyed by all. Jackie Linsey and Beth Gross are filling both the directing and accompanying role to get things going as we continue to look for the right folks to fill our music department positions. The choir will practice every Thursday night from 6:30-7:30 with their first performance to be on Sunday, September 19th at the second service. If you would like to sing in the choir, all are welcome. As a note, the choir will be practicing in the sanctuary and performances will be done from the floor of the sanctuary to eliminate any need to navigate steps in order to participate. Robes will not be worn so there will be no need to go down stairs to prepare for Sunday worship. We just want to be sure that all that would like to share in this ministry and fellowship time are able to do so! This is exciting news!
I am also looking forward to Rally Day which will be held next Sunday, September 12th. We will have one service at 10AM which will follow the first service format as both organists will be enjoying some time off. Then the Rally Day festivities begin at 11:00AM which will include an official opening of our new Preschool playground that was completed as an Eagle Scout project. Our local Representative Keith Gillespie will be on hand to help us cut the ribbon! Steven Courtney and his band will be bringing great family entertainment with performances at 11:15 and 1PM. Bring your appetites as there will be food trucks on site with plenty of food and desserts! And, if that is not enough, you can also enjoy activities such as a bounce house, games, and even a dunk tank. I am so thankful and appreciative for the work and effort that Rick Focht and his team have put into the planning for this event to celebrate the kickoff of our new Sunday School programs and provide a wonderful community event to our church fellowship and our community neighbors! See you there!
A few weeks ago, we needed some additional support from the church to help empty the office next to Alison’s office so that it could be converted into an office for the preschool which now has a staff of five. A call was put out to the church for volunteers and what a great turnout we had! Over 20 folks showed up at 8AM on a Saturday morning which allowed us to complete the project in under an hour! Thanks to the team shown below for this incredible effort. I might even suggest that a great time was had by all!
(Suzanne Robertson is hiding behind Tiffany Ivie!)
In other news, our recent weather has provided us with some significant challenges in our facility. As of yesterday, our fellowship hall has now flooded three times since the writing of the last What’s Brewing (Aug 12th). The first one was a relatively small event with small puddles in front of the stage and left front wall. But the next event brought wall-to-wall water and the element of mud into the room and Pastor Megan’s office. Due to the extent of the damage, we filed a claim with our insurance company and a restoration company was hired to dry out the rooms, which included the removal of a significant amount of water from not only the rooms, but under the stage. Part of the walls were removed as they were damaged and a significant amount of black mold was discovered. As of this writing, the entire floor will need to be replaced because outside ground water comes with various bacterial elements, causing much of the floor to delaminate. It is apparent that flooding in the fellowship hall is not a new occurrence. But this has rendered our fellowship hall out of commission until the work is completed.
Steve Spangler and Josh Strange have been working hard to identify root causes for our flooding issues. Window wells have been evaluated, drains cleared and cleaned out, and contractors have been brought in to assess and quote on reparations. But this week brought a visit from Ida. And we flooded again. Although rods and staffs were raised and arms were spread, we could not stop nor part the waters around the church. But we were able to witness first hand the avenues of approach that the water was using to come into our facility. It gave us first hand validation that we have some significant issues with water drainage from the outside of our facility. Just as new doors have eliminated the entry of our long-tailed furry friends, we will do what it takes to eliminate the entry of unwanted water into our facility.
Through this process, we have discovered that our rain gutters need attention and replacing, our outside drainage is not working properly and our open-deep seated window wells are a concern. We have also identified that our window well drains are constantly being blocked by Oak leaves. Why do we have so many leaves falling in summer? Well, inspection of this issue has revealed that all of our large Oak Trees on the Edgewood Road side of our building are either dead or dying. This is further validated by continuously falling branches, some requiring two people to remove due to their weight. There is a great deal more that I could report on with these events, but I think you get the gist of what is happening here. There will be a great deal of work going on to address all of these issues and eliminate the water problems in our fellowship hall as best as we can. The good news is that we have insurance to address a part of these expenses but that only covers the damage created by the flooding, not the repairs to correct the issues. I will report the expenses as we receive quotations on the necessary work and I am confident in the leadership that we have leading the efforts- Steve Spangler and Josh Strange who will be working closely with our Finance Team leadership Doug Berman and Justin Mann.
Let’s close with some exciting news. Before I write my next What’s Brewing, the Joyful Noise Christian Preschool children will again be filling our halls with joyful noise! About 30 children will benefit from the ministry that our JNCP teachers and staff provide. Each and every day, Christ will be proclaimed in an uplifting and nurturing way to the children of our community. Your prayers and support have made this possibility a reality.
Next week I look forward to sharing some great things that are happening in our ministries, Sunday School programs, and our missional outreach! I am thankful to be a part of the fellowship of Yorkshire Church! Peace and blessings to each of you this day!
-pastor dave.
dkominsky@susumc.org
125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org
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