MEDA helps restore derelict church

Pittsburgh Mennonites create classes to teach restoration of stained glass.

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The Union Project in Pittsburgh had a problem. They wanted to restore the century-old Union Baptist Church, an abandoned edifice that had deteriorated into a community eyesore. A group of people-—including many Pittsburgh Mennonites, along with other artists, community builders and people of faith—had formed the Union Project with a vision to transform the grand structure into a community center with work space for artists and a gathering place for community builders and people of faith.

The big problem was the windows; the 15,000-square-foot building had more than 100 of them. Community volunteers were willing to work, but the original stained-glass and leaded windows needed special attention. Estimates to restore them professionally ranged from $500,000 to $1 million.

Then a light went on. Many Pittsburgh homes had stained or leaded windows, and surely many of these also needed repair. Was there a do-it-yourself solution around the corner? A proposal soon emerged to offer classes in stained-glass restoration.

That’s where Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) came in. MEDA’s Community Economic Development department works with 32 community-based organizations in six cities in the United States to build capacity and boost impact.

MEDA helped the Union Project with an organizational assessment, strategic planning and the development of management systems. It also provided a $20,000 flow-through grant from the U.S. government’s Compassion Capital Fund Project to help begin renovations.

Part of the grant money was invested in getting started. A fee would be charged to cover instruction, tools and replacement glass. The church’s old windows would be the class material.
Word went out, and soon the first class was full. A second class was offered on a consecutive night, and that too was soon full. Students became proficient in stained-glass restoration. They were taught how to dismantle each window, clean each piece of glass, cut replacement glass for broken pieces, re-lead each window and attach reinforcement bars. The first classes restored 29 windows, leaving some 100 more for future students.

“It’s a lot more interesting to restore the windows this way than to raise the money and pay someone else to do it,” says Jessica King, executive director of the Union Project.
One class member, quoted in a local newspaper, called the project “a brilliant solution to a milliondollar problem.” Another called it “an innovative win-win-win solution. I learned how to restore my own stained glass, receive important knowledge that will help me go on to create my own windows with further work, and help a worthy community project at the same time. How cool is that?”—John Longhurst of MEDA News Service

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