The following is an article by Alan Abel from our church's centennial book, Our Heritage, Our Life, written in 2007. The article is a history of Shine-up Saturdays.
In the late 1980s, with a relatively small
congregation for such a large facility, it became increasingly clear that we
could not afford to hire professionals to do things that we could do ourselves.
Mission, Christian Education, and other areas of our church life should not be
cut back because of unnecessary maintenance bills. Trustee George Sargent (who
had an engineering degree) organized volunteers to help at that time. Then, in
1991, George coined the phrase "Shine-Up Saturday," which is still with
us today.
Over the years, at least 80 church members
have given of their time and skills on the average of eight to ten Saturdays a
year. A few of those have died, some are now too old to work, and others have
moved from the area, but we still have a solid core of workers. It is also encouraging
that so many of our new members have expressed an interest in Shine-Up
Saturdays.
Some of the activities over the years have
included grass seeding, grass cutting, lawn aerating, shrub and tree planting,
pruning, general landscaping, leaf raking, gutter cleaning, and sidewalk and
driveway sweeping. Outside doors have been polyurethaned or painted several
times.
Almost every room, closet, or storage First
Presbyterian Church of Ardmore area in the church (maybe. 45-50 in all) has been painted once, twice,
or three times in the last 16 years. (Only the sanctuary, chapel, fellowship
hall, or some high places have been left for the professional painters.) To add
to the typical painting preparation was washing, scraping, sanding, caulking, spackling,
undercoating, and then applying one to four coats of paint in the church
building. More of the same was done on the three floors of the Parish House.
Mechanical activity included floor tile installation
and the building of various storage racks, shelves, work tables, banner
holders, and many other carpentry repairs. Housekeeping chores included
washing, scrubbing, sweeping, and vacuuming and the organization and
reorganization of voluminous numbers of closets, shelves, and storage areas.
There have been multiple trips to the dump with major clean-ups of trash and unusable
items. As grueling as some of these jobs were, there was the added benefit of
newfound friendships, camaraderie, and fun.
From the beginning, my wife Janet, supplied
lunch to this hearty group of volunteers.
Sandwiches, potato chips, soda, water, tea, and countless banana
segments and cookies were served at least 128 times over the years. For me, the
real challenge has been trying to match the work assignments to the volunteers'
interests and expertise while running from one end of the church to the other
with supplies and, hopefully, the correct answers to many questions. The end result of our work has been worth
every minute of the efforts put forth by many devoted church members.
This Saturday, April 21, 2012, we are looking for volunteers for an all-church Shine-up. This will be a great time for someone who has never attended to be a part of the the fun. Everyone is invited. Come for an hour or come all day. Lunch will be provided.
