A huge thank you to everyone for your generosity and support of our capital campaign. We’re off to a great start and are able to move forward with confidence because of your commitment to and faith in Hamline Church. The total amount pledged so far is $1,110,010. And to date, we have received $509,010. We are still a bit shy of our “Miracle Goal” of $1,250,000 in pledges, and we will continue to work toward achieving it.

Capital Projects Update:
In the meantime, we have contracted with MacDonald & Mack Architects to oversee the administration of the church’s exterior masonry restoration project (tuck pointing). Angela Wolf Scott, who is a member of Hamline Church, is a principal of MacDonald Mack and will be working on our project. MacDonald Mack works predominantly with buildings that have national historic designations and Angela was recently honored with the 2018 Young Architects Award from the American Institute of Architects. Bidding for the tuck pointing contract began in late February, with selection of a vendor expected in early April and work to begin soon thereafter.

The solar project planning is well underway. An in-depth analysis of the building in preparation for the panel installation found that it is necessary to update some of our electrical configuration. The Church Council reviewed three bids from electrical contractors and selected Kirtland Electric. The electrical upgrades include a new main switch and updating our older 208ph3 power configuration to a current standard one. To accomplish this will require new transformers for us and our immediate neighbors. The most visible change will be a new utility pole will be installed near the edge of the SPROUT garden, and the existing electrical cabinet in the SPROUT garden will come out and a new one installed at the foot of the new pole. Timing for this project will be coordinated tightly between the electrical contractor and Xcel Energy to take place on a Thursday – Saturday. The plan is to have a generator on site for the first two days then close the building with power off on Saturday. Full electrical service will be restored for Sunday services. While we wait for key information from all vendors on timing, our hope is to have this work and the solar installation ideally take place in mid-April or soon thereafter, to be completed no later than mid-June. Concurrently, we expect the masonry restoration to get underway and extend further into the Summer.