Week 24 - It Takes a Community

I'm back from vacation this weekend, with just a quick update on the progress, which includes curb and gutter work, final grade work in preparation for asphalt, more brick on the outside of the Parish Center, interior framing and the start of electrical work.

Being gone this week has really reminded me of the importance of community and teamwork in completing a project. For starters, many of the pictures from this week's photo album were taken by fellow parishioners on my behalf. Meanwhile, the St. Stan's staff graciously fielded additional questions in my absence that would normally have come to me.

This sense of pulling together, of community, envelops the entire project. It includes those who have volunteered parking spaces to help ease the burden on our community. It includes the many families and individuals who have given to the Capital Campaign, or supported one of our various fundraisers.

It also includes those parishioners who own businesses and have expressed a desire to be involved in the project. For them, we have tried to provide a fair opportunity for involvement. For example, early on in the project, we made available a list of general contractors who were bidding the construction, so that parishioner-owned businesses could contact them about providing quotes. Likewise, for the several areas we've tackled outside of the contract (such as furniture, technology, and security systems), parishioner-owned businesses have been included in the bidding whenever possible. Going forward we plan to continue this philosophy as we approach such items as landscaping and sprinkler systems which have yet to be addressed. Certainly, we cannot guarantee a positive outcome for these businesses -- we must, after all, be good stewards of our resources -- but we can try to be inclusive in our efforts.

We can also continue our focus on making the project as transparent as possible for all parishioners, so we encourage questions and follow-up comments, especially when we fall short of these goals. Feedback can be provided either through the Parish Office, through a building committee or parish council member, or via the comment feature on the blog.

After all, this is a community effort, and one that will benefit the entire parish community!