GREENFIELD — Blessed Sacrament Church hopes to raise $1 million to build a new parish center and rectory.
A capital campaign will begin with a kick-off celebration Sunday and will build up to a Commitment Weekend on May 22 and officially conclude June 22. According to Campaign Director Katie Shouvlin of Minnestoa-based Walsh and Associates, which is providing the church with campaign advice and assistance, the goal is to raise at least $1 million through pledges that would come in over a three-year period.
The current facilities are inadequate, Shouvlin said, as they do not offer enough space for catechism classes, which are currently being held at a Jewish synagogue. The parish, which was formed in 1960 and serves more than 500 households, has never had a parish center, and struggles to accommodate its various meetings, religious education and social functions.
The current rectory is in a house that was bought by the church when it began and is too large for its current needs, as only one priest and three staff members use it on a daily basis.
“Our rectory fit our needs 55 years ago, but with only one priest in residence and a limited staff, such a large building is not cost-effective,” a promotional video about the campaign states. “We need a multifunctional parish center and a smaller rectory to better serve our faith family.”
According to Shouvlin, a new, 8,000-square-foot parish center will feature a large room for events that can be partitioned off to create classrooms. It will also have a full-size kitchen and a community food pantry, she said, which will give volunteers ample space to cook for church events and distribute food to those in need.
The food pantry is currently housed in the garage of the rectory, which is damp and not conducive to the work that is done there, according to the video.
The building will also include an administrative area with three offices for staff and a conference room, and the rectory will be attached with a separate, outside entrance. The plan is to build the building on the south side of the Federal Street church.
In addition to money raised through the campaign, the church will use proceeds from the sale of Holy Trinity School, sold in 2014, endowments and the future sale of the rectory.
“Now’s the time because Blessed Sacrament already has some funds in the bank and they’ve been looking to do this for about three or four years now,” Shouvlin said.
At Holy Trinity Parish, parishioners donated $500,000 in just four months from late 2014 to early 2015 for a renovation of its nave, which included painting, insulating the walls and ceilings, replacing the floor, extending the sprinkler system, refinishing the pews and replacing the ceiling.
That church also got $15,000 from Berkshire Gas Co. for insulation and $5,300 in rebates from Eversource to convert the lighting to LEDs.