It's all paid off!
February 1991, By Stacey Kirkpatrick with Ellen Walker
It was a quiet but joyful ceremony Friday afternoon when members of the Olde Gahanna Sanctuary board of trustees got together to burn the community center's 10-year-old, $50,000 mortgage.
It was a quiet but joyful ceremony Friday afternoon when members of the Olde Gahanna Sanctuary board of trustees got together to burn the community center's 10-year-old, $50,000 mortgage.
The symbolic act was a milestone reached after 10 years of work by the non-profit organization to turn a derelict, run-down and deserted church into a viable community facility in the heart of town.
It was on Feb. 4, 1981 when some members of the community, with the support of the city, volunteered to form the Olde Gahanna Sanctuary Incorporated, acquired a $50,000 community development grant and took out a $50,000 note with Bank One to buy the former home of Peace Lutheran Church at the corner of N. High and Town St. in Olde Gahanna.
They had the support of the city; the administration worked to obtain the grant and council appropriated a few dollars in seed money to get the project going.
As funds from rental of the building space for wedding receptions, club, school and city events, and private parties started to trickle in, more ambitious improvements projects were completed.
More than $100,000 in improvements has been made to the building. Along the way, the building was named to the National Register of Historic Buildings.
Since the building was purchased, new heating, air conditioning, kitchen and bathroom fixtures have been installed. Landscaping and carpeting have been added. Some improvements have also been made to the former church parsonage next door to the Sanctuary, which is now used to house some youth athletic league offices.
Many of the same people who worked to get the Sanctuary up and running as a community center have remained on the Sanctuary board of trustees to see the project through. Board president for the entire decade has been Jack Kirkpatrick. Others who have played a major roles on the board include longtime members LeRoux Mentz, Tom Morgan, Neal Longanback, John Konheim and George Parker.
A more recent board member is Jim Bruner. Rev. Dwight Hedrick has also served on the board, as has Bonnie Wilbur, who has been administrator, chief cook and bottle washer, and schedule overseer since the project began.
"The mortgage has been paid in full - 10 years of dedicated commitment and Gahanna has a fully-owned community center paid for by the nominal fees charged for the use of the building and the wonderful fundraising activities of the Friends of the Sanctuary," Kirkpatrick said.
The Friends of the Sanctuary, a fundraising arm of the board, is made up of a few dozen residents who have found a special niche in the non-profit fundraising world.
Long before it became popular to sell used children's clothing (whole businesses are now devoted to this endeavor) mothers in search of bargains were packing into the Sanctuary for the Friends' annual spring and fall Rerun Sales. The 1991 version of the Spring Rerun Sale is this Saturday.
The Friends of the Sanctuary also sell annual flowers every spring and have engaged in other fundraising efforts to keep the flow of capital improvements money coming into the Sanctuary coffers while funds from the building's rental assured the mortgage and costs to operate the center would be paid.
"The Sanctuary owes its success to a solid core of a few very dedicated individuals," Kirkpatrick said. "I'm not sure people realize that patronizing the Friends' activities and renting the Sanctuary results in 100 percent of that income being returned to benefit the Sanctuary."
Newer residents of Gahanna might not even know the Sanctuary, with its original stained glass windows lovingly restored by Rick Eiler and its tall church steeple, is a community center available for their use, he said. The center rarely advertises.
"We are ready, willing and very able to meet the city's needs for a community center. We have more than adequate space for dances and large meetings - up to 250 people. And we can accommodate groups of 100 people or less very comfortably in our "community room" which has a stage for small theater groups," Kirkpatrick said.
There's a big advantage to the city to have the independently-run, non-profit center, Kirkpatrick added. Taxpayer dollars aren't used, so the city has "no building expenses, no maintenance cost, and no staff to pay for. But the city can rent the building as needed."
Since the Olde Gahanna Sanctuary Inc. is a non-profit group, rental prices are intentionally kept low.
Service organizations or city events can be held in the building for as low a fee as $10 an hour for weekday hours. Use of the building with its full kitchen facilities for private parties and wedding receptions costs more, and prices are available from Bonnie Wilbur at 475-5894.
As it heads into its second decade, Kirkpatrick said, new directions will also be seen by residents. An example is the relocation of the Gahanna Area Chamber of Commerce office from George Parker's Schoolhouse building nearby into the Sanctuary.
"It's beneficial both for the Sanctuary and the Chamber. Visitors to our community are always welcome to tour the building. Now, with the Chamber, we have someone to welcome those guests to Gahanna's most recognized historical building."
Residents who haven't been inside the Sanctuary and other visitors are welcome to see the building between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. weekdays, when the Chamber office is open. They should take special note of the stained glass windows, Kirkpatrick said, "which are a beautiful sight on a sunny day."
