In the fall of 2018, St. Andrew's entered into a process of discernment following the closure of our school. Parishioners participated in meetings together, and in meetings that included members of our community. A Community Listening Session allowed us all to learn about the needs in our city.

A Building Discernment Team worked many months to determine the best use for the former day school spaces. Their recommendation to create a multi-use community outreach center was approved by the Vestry. People in our community are already reaching out to us with requests to use the former day school space.

Building Implementation Team

The Building Implementation Team will plan and oversee the practical and logistical tasks involved in turning our former school spaces into a multi-use community outreach facility. Team members: Dorothy Burch, Jason Carney, Crystal Cyr, Matt Deller, Dawn Edquist (team leader), Tonia Graves, Lynda Gray, Larry Nicolai, Mary Poole, Bill Wilds, and Allie Wittkamp. This team will:

• Prepare the building space for use (developing a process and guidelines for determining which resources to keep and which to share/discard/sell; and then carrying out/overseeing that process)
• Lay the “infrastructure” for community use of the space (creating guidelines, policies, forms, protocols to be followed)
• Craft a job description for a new, part-time hire to serve as visionary leader and coordinator of the multipurpose outreach facility space usage.

What's already happening in the Center

Hilton Community Playgroup
Every Tuesday and Wednesday morning the Hilton Community Playgroup meets in the basement classrooms and cafeteria. Comprised of preschool aged children and their parents, this group also enjoys the use of our "little people" playground adjacent to Ferguson Ave. The group began meeting at St. Andrew's almost a year ago as a co-op. Due to the great success in fulfilling a need for young children in our neighborhood, the group expanded and became the Hilton Community Playgroup in June of this year.

Writing Center
Plans are also underway to establish a Writing Center for anyone who needs help with writing projects or who wants to hone their writing skills. This project was proposed and will be led by Nicole Emmelhainz, one of our newest church members and a professor at CNU.

Classical Conversations
Classical Conversations is an organization that provides group classroom instruction to home-schooled students. They serve around 50 students age 4 to 16 and meet all day on Thursdays.

Study Groups
An ACT Study Group began meeting to help high school students prepare for the college admissions test. They are led by our former day school librarian, Tracy Crooks. Earlier this year our facility was used for International Baccalaureate (IB) testing of local high school students.