I am absolutely delighted to share the news that St Paul’s, Key West has received $250,000 for the restoration of the church building from the National Fund for Sacred Places!
The National Fund is a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This grant funding is earmarked specifically for the restoration of the iconic façade of St Paul’s and its towers facing Duval St (pictured here in a beautiful photo by our own Mike Kindinger).
As I’ve said and written any number of times by now, we must restore the entire church building. This grant of 250K requires us to raise 500K in a 1 to 2 match. I’m confident we will do that and, in partnership with the many friends and supporters of St Paul’s locally, across the country, and around the world, raise what we estimate will be several million dollars more to complete the work on the church and build endowment for ongoing, proactive maintenance of it.
Letters of intent for grants from the National Fund were submitted this year by 371 congregations. We were one of 31 congregations invited to submit a full proposal. Now St Paul’s is one of 16 organizations to be named a partner project for 2023. Together we and the other 15 congregations will receive a total of over $3.5 million in funding.
In addition to the capital restoration grant we’ve been awarded, the National Fund also provides us training, planning grants, technical assistance for the restoration project, and capacity-building support. These grants are available to congregations of all faiths/religious traditions who care for culturally significant historic buildings, are active as communities of worship, welcome the community onto their campus and into their facilities, and are active in their communities in ministry and mission for the common good.
Now in its eighth year, the National Fund has awarded or pledged over $21.5 million to 113 community-serving congregations representing 39 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. We are the first in Florida! So far, this grantmaking has resulted in over $3 leveraged for every grant dollar invested in participating congregations.
You’ll be hearing lots more about this grant, the National Fund, and the restoration of the church building in the days and weeks ahead. For the moment, please join me, the vestry, and the staff in celebrating this wonderful news! And please share the church’s Facebook and Instagram posts to your feeds and/or share the link to this blog.
To learn more about the National Fund and see St Paul’s and this year’s other 15 grant recipients featured, visit fundforsacredplaces.org. To contribute toward the total costs of restoring the beautiful, iconic worship space entrusted to our care, please visit stpaulskeywest.org/give and choose Capital Campaign from the drop-down menu or send a check earmarked for the Capital Campaign to the church office at 401 Duval St, Key West, FL 33040.
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