“O Lord, how I love the beauty of Your House, the place where Your Glory dwells!” - Psalms

The Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with a call to preach, to teach, to serve, to heal, to make disciples – saints – for the Kingdom of God. To do this, every family needs a home, and every home needs to be setup in a way that allows the family to function the way it should. We’ve begun that process, and now I need your help to bring it to an end, to close this chapter and open a new one.

In short, St. John’s – your parish! – needs your help!

This past April, 2014, marks our 19th year in our Shirley facilities. During this time, we have had to put up with a building that was not up to proper standards, was unusable for a great deal of ministry we wanted to do, and simply did not allow us to put our best foot – and public face – forward.

In 2006, we began to do something about that, and after a long and often arduous process of plans, reviews and approvals, we finally received in 2013 from the Town of Brookhaven authorization to begin with our renovation project. After carefully reviewing potential contractors, we settled on one, MJ Construction, of Southold, and began renovation work in January of 2014.

During this time, parish life was greatly disrupted, there was dust everywhere, things got misplaced, but we knew we were seeing something happen, something unfolding, that we all had been waiting to see for a long, long time.

This initial work, what we have been calling Phase I (of III, see the chart to the left) was brought to completion in the fall of 2014, but it has not been without challenges. As with any old building, we found things that we needed to address that were not in the original contract, things thathad to be addressed immediately while the opportunity (often a very short window of opportunity) presented itself. We also had to perform other work (and pay fees and bonds accordingly) ordered by the Town of Brookhaven. It was also during this time that the Parish Council decided to make the last of the payments owed to the architect.

Due Diligence Carefully Undertaken

Also during this time, the Building Committee and Parish Council took time to carefully review, month-by-month, work and payment progress. However, the payments of extra fees, bonds, and extra-contract work took a toll on our Building Fund, which had already begun a $178K contract with a slim $180K starting amount.

We have known for some time now that we would need to raise more money to pay off our contractor, and to even see that some extra money can be raised to finish work in the basement, such as a proper floor, as well as use the opportunity for a Capital Campaign to begin raising money for the next effort, Phase II (as noted on the back of the Capital Campaign flyer).

After a payment in early to mid-June to the contractor of $9,500 (after finishing the final “to-do” list), building funds will be virtually depleted, and we will owe the contractor an additional $35,000to complete all contractual payments. We need to raise this money quickly.

I am therefore appealing to all of you in this effort, as the help of each and every one of you will (as it already and always has) make a big difference in our goal to set our parish on a sound financial footing as we move into a new era in parish history: an era characterized by what we are now free to do, not just what we are limited to do.

Will you help? And, will you do it soon?

Please look over the materials provided in this packet, and prayerfully consider the level of help you can provide. This type of appeal is never easy. But then, neither is the Gospel of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ! May God bless you for your generosity to our beloved parish!

Campaign pledge forms are available in the Narthex and in the Alexandrovich Hall, and donations will soon be available here on our parish website. Thank you, and may God bless you and remember you for your generosity!

With love in Christ Jesus,
Archpriest Jonathan Ivanoff
Rector