Center Meeting House

It just seems that the center of Newbury has come alive with the completion of the new Bell Tower on the Center Meeting House.  Is it the excellent materials that were used?  Could it be the quality of the paint?  Did the outstanding workmanship contribute?  On a sunny day the new tower literally glows.  It is an amazing sight and is well worth the time that it took to marshall the funds that were needed to make it all happen.

Well, we never seem to get a moment's rest when it comes to fundraising?  With another $400,000 needed to bring the project to completion it seems that a fundraiser's work is never done.

So what is happening now?  We completed an application to LCHIP and their process will extend into mid-January, 2010 before we know whether there is any support from this quarter.  An important part of our request included how the cost of this project has escalated time after time as we were able to open up a new part of the meetinghouse and find new and unexpected areas that required restoration or outright replacement.  For a town of about 2,000 full time citizens and another cast of thousands who come during the winter or the summer or during the weekends the $900,000 that has been raised so far is far beyond what we ever thought that we would need or be able to raise.  Thank you Newbury!

While we wait for word from LCHIP and hope that the town will be able to offer further assistance the citizens of our town are not sitting around waiting.  Our program of offering pew sponsorships is breathing new life into fundraising.  The meetinghouse has 42 pews and the board of directors determined that we would ask people to sponsor a pew for $5,000 and in return receive recognition on a brass plaque that will be placed in the Center Meeting House as well as a page in a Museum Quality Book in which sponsors can document the history of their family or any other remembrances or dreams that they choose.

We are pleased that since the tower went up and as the year draws to a close there has been a significant increase in interest in pew sponsorships.  Seventeen pews have now found a sponsor and in the past week alone, five sponsorships have been finalized.  Over a dozen other potential sponsors are in the midst of their deliberations about whether to proceed with a donation.  It is easy to do the math on how much progress we can make if the remaining 25 pews should receive sponsors.  With a lot of good luck and continuing support, it is beginning to seem possible that the Center Meeting House could be completed in 2010.

We hope that you recently received our third annual Newsletter in the mail.  Check the application form found inside it for details about the pews, memberships or other news.  ANY AMOUNT of help will be put to good use.  Over 95% of what we receive goes into the restoration process.  So join up as a member and add a little bit more to your check if you can.  The Center Meeting House is registered with the IRS as a tax free charity.  If you didn't receive your newsletter, or if it got caught up in a Christmas cleanup campaign around the house, just click on the Newsletter icon to the right and you can read it online or print it out again.

The newly restored tower fits right in with the town's new street lights, as shown in the picture to the right.

Thank you Newbury!