On Sunday, May 5, after worship, the congregation of the United Methodist Church in Fayette made their way across the street to celebrate the official groundbreaking of their Fayette United Methodist Church Family Life Center which is just across the street from the church itself.
The Family Life Center started as a dream a little more than a year ago. The basement of the church provided insufficient space to host meetings of the Fayette United Methodist Youth (F.U.M.Y.) which numbers around 40, let alone provide enough space for fun events such as lock-ins and potlucks.
The new building will be about 6,000 square feet, have parking in the back, a canopied drop-off area at the main entrance, and feature two main rooms: the youth room, and the fellowship area (or multi-purpose room) which can comfortably seat 250 people.
The congregation hopes to have use of the building by the end of October, but they aren’t the only ones anticipating the grand opening. “This building isn’t just ours,” said Reverend Kathy Currier. “It’s for the community. I just want to thank the community members as well as members of our congregation for their generosity in donating both money and labor to make this dream come true.”
And it was quite the show of generosity considering that this building will end up costing around $600,000. The United Methodist Church hopes to use the building for their Bullthistle Ice Cream Social, Monthly Community Meals, and (of course) their F.U.M.Y. meetings, activities, and events such as lock-ins and future Youth Invations.
The groundbreaking itself was a very warm, motivating event. Church members were encouraged to write their names – and a passage if they wanted – on some rocks that were collected and are planned to be used in the Family Life Center’s landscaping. Also, F.U.M.Y. members put together a time capsule that will be buried somewhere on the property close to when the building is actually complete.
All in all, everyone – both in the church and the community – is excited for this building to be complete as it will provide another venue in which to house community and church events and to work together to provide enrichment and opportunities to local children. This building is, indeed, a legacy of progress and the bettering of the community through group action and cooperation and it was a pleasure to be called to witness such an important day. Congratulations to the United Methodist Church and the Fayette community in general on such an achievement and on the investment made here in the future of area children.