Posted: 1/3/06
New addition bringing people back to St. Peterís church
St. Peterís in Hokah has new elevators, bathrooms and much more
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Betty Senn saw a lot of happy faces at St. Peterís Catholic Church in Hokah on Christmas Eve.
Hers was one of them.
A new entrance and spacious entryway was added this year. It includes an elevator, which means that people donít have to walk up the two flights of stairs to get to the sanctuary anymore.
Those stairs had prevented Senn, 79, from attending the church in recent years. She had started going to church in La Crescent.
ìI was so impressed, I couldnít get over it,î Senn said of her Christmas Eve experience, which was the first service in which the new addition and elevator could be used. She was driven over the new blacktop parking lot and dropped off at the new door on the west side of the church. She entered the big gathering space, then rode up one floor to the sanctuary.
ìIt was just such a smooth ride, it was unbelievable,î Senn said. She saw people that hadnít been able to go to church at St. Peterís for a long time.
ìIím sure glad we got it back and all,î Senn said. ìItís was just wonderful.î
She said she also felt safer, seeing the fire escape and door that exits the sanctuary, which is three stories above ground. She felt physically more comfortable too thanks to a new heating system, and the bathrooms on the church level and narthex level both were great additions, she said.
Sennís comments were echoed by Phyllis Zibrowski, 76, of Hokah. ìIt means that I can go back to St. Peterís to church because I couldnít get up the steps any more,î Zibrowski said. ìI had blood clots in my lungs and it left a lot of damage. Weíve kind of went between Brownsville and Houston to church. It got to be a real hassle. This is just great going there, back to St. Peterís, I says, it was just like coming home.î
The project will cost nearly $600,000 when it is completed, (Concrete and landscaping work will be done in the spring.) The church received $444,500 in cash donations. Another $133,500 has been pledged over a three-year period.
Volunteer labor and finding deals on items such as ceiling tiles and light fixtures have saved a lot of money, project coordinator Ron Petersen said in December 27. He took this reporter on a tour of the building that day. He pointed to a classroom in the school portion of the building that had a new drop ceiling to hide the heating pipes. The remodeling costs of that room would normally be about $7,500, but the church paid only about $300 because of donated material and especially labor, Petersen said.
He likes a lot of things about the project, but especially how old aspects of the building were worked into the new part. Two examples stand out. One is the stained glass window on the west side, which was moved from its old location over the old arched entrance to a spot above the new doors. The other is how the old cornerstone on the south side was moved out, and matched with another, new cornerstone.
ìIt didnít mess up the church in any way,î Petersen said of the addition. ìIt really enhanced the church, but it didnít take anything away from it.î
Good feedback
Comments have been good, Petersen said. One common one is, ìWe should have done it 20 years ago,î he said. People also like the gathering space in the entryway. ìOnce you got to the bottom of the steps [in the old church], that was it,î Petersen said.
But there were a lot of challenges, Petersen said, particularly when construction kicked in and school was in session in the fall. Not knowing where they would end up financially was worrisome too. They are still short of funds for the parking lot, but Petersen has no regrets about moving ahead with that part of the project. Things would be been a big mess without it, he feels. Not everybody supported the idea, but they do now, Petersen said.
ìAt least two-thirds of the money to fund this came from outside the parish, from friends and alumni of St. Peteís,î Petersen added. One alumnus of the St. Peterís School, which is located in the building, wrote out a check for $125,000.
ìThatís when I knew weíre going to do this or die trying,î Petersen said.
The whole thing was really two projects, Petersen added, because the new $130,000 heating system was a separate thing. ìWe really were running both projects at the same time,î he said.
A new boiler was installed, and the radiators were converted from low pressure steam to hot water. Now all the rooms are zoned.
Fellow building committee member Jim Kochie thinks people like the handicapped accessibility most of all.
ìThatíd be number one,î committee member Dan Von Arx agreed.
Von Arx said combining the heating system with the new addition was a good plan. People also like the way the project blends with the old building, he said.
ìEven the non-parishioners have good things to say about it,î Kochie said.
School benefits too
Rachel Fishel, the principal at St. Peterís School, said the classroom level are a big benefit for students and staff.
ìI went through two pregnancies running down two flights of stairs to go to the bathroom,î she said with a laugh on December 28.
The new heating system is a great improvement too, Fishel said. ìWeíve always had cold spots in that school,î she said. ìPlaces where you had to wear three layers the whole winter. But now everything comfortable. Such even heat.î
Thereís also less maintenance because the boilers donít have to be flushed every 16 hours like in the good old days, Fishel added.
Perhaps the biggest thrill for her was seeing her grandparents, Fred and Geneva Burchart, able to attend Christmas Eve mass. Geneva, 74, agreed with that. ìWe just couldnít make it up the steps. I have arthritis really bad and my husbandís just really crippled up,î Geneva said. ìItís really nice, really nice, to get in your own church. And the elevator is great.î
Photos and financial information on the project can be viewed on the internet at acegroup.cc/~stpeter. You can also get more information by calling Petersen at 507-895-8462 or emailing him at rjpkjp@acegroup.cc.
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