House Committee

Overview

The mission of the House Committee is to ensure the Church community a place where it can worship in comfort and to provide the greater community a place for meetings, celebrations, recreation, and solace.

  • Usually meets the first Monday of the month at 7:00-8:30 p.m. and as needed.
  • The House Committee maintains, repairs, secures and improves the buildings and grounds.  Committee members plan repairs and renovations to the buildings and grounds. 
  • Members can work on projects by themselves or on special committee work days or evenings.  This may be in conjunction with people outside the committee recruited just for a specific project. 
  • Time obligations are up to the members, but might vary from 1-4 hours per month (in addition to a 1½ hour meeting once a month). 
  • A few times a year, there is a 3-hour “work day” when other church members join the committee to help with sprucing-up projects. 
  • Members also share the overseeing of work hired out to contractors.
  • Members with experience in building and repair trades would be very helpful.

 

  • Spotlight on: House committee:  from the April 2016 Springboard

    We, and many community organizations, count on the church building to be clean, safe, and functioning well. That happens thanks to the work of many people: our office manager, our pastors, our paid custodial staff, and our dedicated House committee. I wanted to take a minute to highlight some of the work we may not notice:

    Side door lock schedule and building access: Ensuring that we can update our doorlock schedule and program in new fob and access codes requires someone with significant computer skills. Tom Barker put in a lot of time a few years ago recovering our ability to use this program, and puts in the time to keep it up-to-date. Since the system is several years old, the process is slightly cumbersome, but Tom’s efforts mean that SGC does not have to spend significant money putting in a newer system. Thank you, Tom, for sharing your expertise and your time!

    Sprucing up the Sanctuary: Have you noticed the smell of fresh paint in the Sanctuary? The first floor walls, up to the chair rail, and much of the balcony area are fresh and bright, thanks to Phil Notaro’s excellent work. Phil has also repaired several pew benches that were splitting. Phil’s efforts save SGC significant costs of painting and of repairing pews. Thank you, Phil, for sharing your expertise and your time!

    Sprucing up the main hallway: Ron Offutt coordinated with Eagle Scout Aiden Ayers of Troop 608, which meets at SGC, to ensure that Aiden’s Eagle project went smoothly. Thanks to Aiden and troop 608, our main hallway is now freshly painted. Thank you, Ron, for sharing your expertise and your time, for the benefit of the boys in the scout troop, as well as for SGC’s benefit.

    Controlling costs: Jack Brown created spreadsheets to help us track our utility costs. He was able to straighten out some confusion about gas and water meter readings, and alerts us to unexpected changes in usage and cost. Thank you, Jack, for sharing your expertise and your time!

    Glen Parkway steps and railings: The House committee oversaw the repair and replacement of the Glen Parkway steps (which have been on SGC’s to-do list for many years). Jay Hirsch is renovating and restoring the stair railings, saving SGC significant costs of replacing those railings. Thank you, Jay, for sharing your expertise and your time!

    Parking lot repairs: Addressing questions regarding the parking lot drainage was on the future to-do list, but when a sink-hole opened up this past summer, this topic became an immediate concern. Thank you to Phil Notaro and the rest of the House committee for your time and expertise in evaluating the possible solutions and getting the repairs done.

    Heat and hot water: We tend not to notice the heat until it’s not there on a cold Sunday morning. Thank you, Roger Johnson, Tom Barker, Dave Giblin, and Ron Offutt for continuing to maintain and coordinate significant upgrades to our boilers and hot water heater.

    Odds and ends: There are numerous other projects around the church that have benefited from our handy house committee members. They keep the plumbing, electrical, and doors and windows operating smoothly. They maintain the inside floors, walls, and ceilings, and the outside grounds, walls, and roof over our heads. Thanks, House, for sharing your expertise, skills, and time, to ensure that our building is clean, safe, warm, well-lit, and welcoming, both for our own worship, study, music, and fellowship, and for the good work of the 12-step groups, the Scout groups, and the other community groups who meet here.            


 

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