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St. Thomas, Vancouver

The Parish of St. Thomas, Vancouver has embarked on an ambitious renovation project to increase accessibility to their buildings, build a new commercial grade kitchen, replace the current washrooms and build new accessible versions and improve the overall usefulness of their facilities to serve the needs of the parish and the community groups that use the space. The total cost of the project is $937,000. Projected revenues currently total $643,000, which includes an impressive $563,000 in donations and pledges from the parish.

The Parish of St. Thomas requested a grant from the diocese, and Management, Finance and Property Committee (MFP) recommended a grant of $50,000 (which was subsequently reduced to $25,000 as that seemed the more consistent grant amount awarded for parish renovation projects). Also, a loan of $200,000 was granted to the Parish of St. Thomas, the term to be five years at no interest and repayment details to be reviewed at five years, if not sooner. The funding is to be sourced from the Mission and Ministry Fund.

Council was also requested to recommend that Bishop Skelton approve St. Thomas’s Anglican Foundation Grant application of $15,000. This would be one of three diocesan applications for the year 2018.

The May 2018 issue of Topic, the publication of the Diocese of New Westminster will contain a full feature article about St. Thomas's upcoming renovations.

St. John the Divine, Maple Ridge

The Parish of St. John the Divine, Maple Ridge is renovating their rectory in anticipation of the arrival of their new vicar. The rectory has been in the rental market for a number of years and is in need of substantial renovations.  The Management , Finance and Property Committee (MFP) reviewed the request for grant assistance of $50,000 and passed a motion recommending Diocesan Council grant the parish $25,000 and authorize a loan of $25,000 with terms of no interest and no payments for five years with an annual review of this loan by the diocese. The loan and grant to be funded from the Mission and Ministry Fund. This diocesan funding matches the parish funding of $50,000.00 for this project.

All three resolutions: the St. Thomas grant and loan request, the St. John the Divine grant and loan request, and the request for approval of St. Thomas's Anglican Foundation application were included in an omnibus motion put forward by Chancellor, George Cadman, and were carried unanimously.

IMAGES

  • St. Thomas's rector, Rev. Batten standing in the lower level parish hall indicating the expansion of the kitchen. The width of the kitchen will be from where the fridge is visible in the background to where he is standing.
  • Reverend Michael Batten standing near the chancel hallway entrance. The stairs will be removed and the hallway levelled out leading to the location of the new elevator
  • The wall space behind and to the left of Rev. Batten will be the location of the elevator door on the main level.
  • The existing kitchen will be demolished to make space for the new much larger commercial grade kitchen.
  • New storage space for items like the parking signs currently kept in the choir library will be a feature of the renovations.