Funding the hall
Barbara Rowley
Four of five stages in the renovation of St Bernadettes parish hall have been completed on time and on budget but not without a great deal of time spent in consultation between parish and school.
The hall is historically significant because it was the first church and school. But it had deteriorated from
its pristine condition of the 1980s when it was used for indoor bowls. Then it had new piles, the floors were highly polished and windows draped in burgundy.
With the demise of the indoor bowls club, the hall was no longer considered crucial to parish life particularly when maintenance funds were short.
But an influx of immigrant and refugee families in the early 2000s meant the hall again became attractive as a place for these new members of the parish community to gather.
In 2006 when I was commissioned lay pastoral leader of the parish, I put the problem, in the too-hard basket. Two years later, in desperation, I sought help from St Joseph. ‘After all,’ I pleaded, ‘You’re the carpenter, not me!’ The next day, a parishioner handed me an application form for a grant from the NZ Community Trust. ‘It might be worth a go,’ she said.
As providence would have it, pastoral area support person Mary-Ann Greaney saw the form on the coffee table and asked if I was thinking of applying for funds. I told her I thought I might apply for $20,000 to repair some of the rotten boards and paint it because it was such an eyesore.
As well, one elderly parishioner said to me, ‘Barbara, I’m afraid that the next time I drive into one of those potholes (in the driveway), you might not see me again!’ Mary-Ann, asked me, ‘What would your dream be if money wasn’t an object. Why not think big? There are available monies out there’. Together we went to the New Zealand Community Trust armed with a feasibility study that showed my $20,000 dream would be more like a $200,000 one. Manager Tony Gill admired the photos we had taken of community activities and asked, ‘How much do you require?’ ‘$200,000,’ I replied. ‘And how much do you actually have?’ – ‘$2,000.’
We both knew what his smiling response implied, but Mary-Ann, the more courageous of us, quickly said, ‘But, do you think it is do-able, Tony?’ He suggested we break the project into five stages and start each stage with a fundraising event before applying for funds.
‘No one will give you money if they don’t see you trying to help yourselves first,’ he said. He advised transparency and meticulous presentation. ‘If you are applying for funds from two trusts, be open about it because we do talk to each other and would find out anyway. He encouraged us to finish the exterior before applying for funding because this would prove our commitment to the project and our capability. We also attended a seminar on grant applications and met people from other trusts. Two successful applications from the NZ Community Trust were the result.
Next, we obtained a commitment from parish and school. The feasibility study had proved it was a sound building and parishioners were almost unanimous in voting to refurbish it through working bees, fundraising and grant applications.
Having reached a consensus and obtained the necessary permission from the archdiocese, we started work on our five-stage hall project in 2009.
We drained and resurfaced the driveway – Catholic Schools Board paid.
For the exterior, we approached the Catholic Foundation thinking that the restored hall would prove a valuable asset to the wider church community. Mary Brito from the foundation, supported, advised and encouraged us attending every fundraising gala. ‘I don’t mind helping those who also try to help themselves,’ she said.
For the kitchen, one of the trusts from which we had already received funds said, ‘We love you to bits, but you might be better to approach NZ Lotteries Board.
‘You’ve completed a great application, the best I’ve seen,’ the person from the board said, ‘but unfortunately you’ve applied to the wrong committee and it will need to be redone but we’d be happy to let the other committee know that it’s coming.’
My heart sank, I couldn’t bear the thought of starting again. Nevertheless, our persistence was rewarded and the kitchen is complete.
There is just one stage left before the hall returns to its 1980s style.