Getting Started

The Idea: Brad is undoubtedly the glue of this project. Chris sought Brad out professionally as a fellow material “reclaimer” to swap stories and find collaborative opportunities. The idea for a project resembling this one developed over a several year friendship. Terry Zegler is a community leader (and general den-mother) of the Hopewell United Methodist Church in Rayland Ohio. The congregation had an old chapel in the historic cemetery next to their new building that stood vacant for over 20 years. The electrical and HVAC had been stripped years ago and the building has been going into decay since. Before anything bad happened (besides the occasional squatter or teenage curiosity) the community wanted to do something with the property. She sought Brad out due to his work on other projects of this nature and. The conversation progressed from there. It took 2 years to get the logistics together and many people were involved in getting this project funded, planned, attended, and working. We are so incredibly grateful for everyone’s tenacity and preparation work, now it’s time to get this show on the road!

The Location: Hopewell Chapel is located in Rayland Ohio (or just outside it). Rayland is just off the Ohio River about 50 miles south west of Pittsburgh PA and 15 miles north of Wheeling West Virginia. Really it's rural, rural and beautiful.

Map of general area

  

The Arrival: The first weekend we arrived at the Meadowbrook Church of God to find a very fully stocked kitchen. The congregation here stores their donation for the food pantry in the parsonage we are staying in they gave us open access to the goods. After the initial shock of all that food our host Terry and her mother brought more food and house goods, including homemade ham salad, egg salad, and macaroni salad. Food has become a major theme of this project since everyone keeps us so fully stocked we don’t shop. 

Map of Rayland, Hopwewell, and Meadowbrook

Meadowbrook Church of God has the main building (with the cross), a recreation center (white building), and the parsonage (with the porch). We are staying in the parsonage.

This is really only a small sample, there are two more cabinets and two 10 gallon plastic containers.

The first night before the students arrived as a major planning session.

Day 1: Once everyone arrived the project really came alive. The first night we found ourselves “engaging the community” with a game of waffle-ball with the youth group. Those guys are really competitive. Day one was a bit of a rough start, the original plan was to be at the site at 7am, arrival was more like 8:30. That’s okay, plenty of days to get it right.

Getting suited up!