DOUGLAS, Ariz. (KGUN) — First Presbyterian Church of Douglas is still cleaning up the damage from the fire, more than a year-and-a-half after it started.
"The fellowship hall, the roof and the floor; that's all (the contractors are) going to be doing," said Susan Kramer, a member of the church. "That's all we've got money for.”
Contractors are demolishing the inside of the church's hall, which suffered significant smoke damage from the fire. The church elected to turn the hall into a meeting room and commercial kitchen.
“We say Fellowship Hall is going to be for everyone, and the sanctuary can wait for us to be working on it," said Pastor Joca Gallegos. "We need to do a lot of fund-raising for that.”
The church is using the insurance money to renovate the fellowship, to install showers if it needs to be used as a shelter and to have the roof reinstalled. The hall
will be something anyone in the community can use.
"Our church is here for the community, not just the members who go here,” Kramer said.
They are hoping to collect donations, by letting people use the space for events and parties, that can go toward paying for the rest of the repairs to the sanctuary.
"We're like, pretty much going on fumes right now," Kramer said. "We all looked at the bank balance and went, 'Oh, OK,' because it's going to be right on the edge.”
She says they’re working on other ideas for donation drives and fundraisers because they need millions of dollars to fix the historic church.
Most of the money is needed to fix and replace the stained glass windows that were damaged. Gallegos says some of the windows can be saved, while some of the broken pieces can be used to make something new.
During the clean-up, the congregation has remained hopeful and continues to help the community. They've kept their food pantry open to keep community members fed, even if it meant operating it out of their cars.
“That helped us to keep our identity in the community and our love,” Gallegos said.
For the last six months, the congregation has met in one of the old classrooms. Kramer says when the fellowship hall is complete, they hope to move their worship services into that building because there will be more space.
Contractors on scene told KGUN that they plan to have the construction completed next spring with the new roof being put on the church in March.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
