The Church of Our Merciful Saviour is a wonderful old church, consecrated in 1920, and like many of us in the congregation age has taken its toll. There are 45 exquisitely beautiful stained glass windows in our church and therein lies our problem. Many of them are in desperate need of repair. So our Priest, in February 2006, asked for volunteers to raise money to repair them.
A team of 6 stepped forward and in just about 3 years they have raised over $14,000, had 2 small windows repaired for $2000 and contracted to restore a large, 14 ft. high window for $13,120. The window was removed last week and restoration has begun.
The team, with the help of the congregation, sold "Joe Corbi" pizzas, cakes and cookie dough, "Tupperware," cakes and jewelry. They ran concession stands for a local Minor League Baseball Team, The Blue Rocks" in Wilmington, De. They received money from a church Chinese auction, cleaned streets for the Township, hosted "Tastefully Simple" parties and received donations every Sunday from church members in a little green, stained glass box in the narthex.
The total estimated cost to repair all of the windows was over $120,000 and when we started we said, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step." We have taken that step....just a small congregation but BIG on STEWARDSHIP.