Our church has 19 beautiful stained glass windows by William Reith of Philadelphia, two of them Gothic arches, 17 feet by 17 feet, depicting scenes from the life of Christ. They were installed 107 years ago, and are well past due for restoration. Some of the problems are severe cracking and bowing, flaking paint, deteriorating lead, and panes that have fallen out.
A team of church members studied the problem and selected several studios to present bids. They chose J. R. Lamb Studios of Clifton, New Jersey the oldest company in the country doing this work. Their bid was $206,000 with the work to be executed in three stages.
To many this amount seemed unachievable, as we are a small church. This summer we began asking members to sponsor restoration of a particular window, based on its cost to restore, so that windows could be sponsored from $1,000 to $78,000. We divided the $78,000 windows into their five lancets, so that costs to restore those ranged from $15,000 to $19,000. We have used visual displays of all the windows, adding sponsorships as they came in.
The Stained Glass Window Restoration Project has so far yielded success on three levels. First, in just a few months we have raised the funds for the first two phases of the project, which will include all the sanctuary windows. Second, it has contributed to a sense of excitement and moving forward among church members. The third level, and perhaps most important, is that members who attend the first and second services have worked side-by-side on various projects to benefit the windows, and everyone rejoices when another window is sponsored.
The First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes Street,
Cape May, New Jersey 08204, Tel: (609) 884-3949
