March 2004
PROGRESS OF RESTORATION
You will be pleased to learn that the most complex part of the roof, office and altar, has been completed, including cleaning and repointing of the external walls. You will also be happy to hear that the cost of $1,170,000 was Paid in Full. $1,057,000 to General Constrictor and $113,00 to architects and Technical Advisors. Look what your contributions have accomplished! Imagine, the St. Sava congregation need not be concerned for the next 100 years with about 50% of a large, dangerously deteriorated roof! Indeed, we have come a long way in a relatively short time, thanks to your generosity.
A small though generous number of Serbs and friends of Serbs donated an unexpected $112,000 on the evening of our 2003 October Banquet. Magnificent as our donors were the amount raised was grossly insufficient to cover this project, estimated to cost $1 million. We found ourselves in a serious financial dilemma. However, we were so enthused by the banquet’s success and, wanting to keep up the momentum, in late November we mailed a beautiful newsletter to 1700 people, which included photographs and news concerning the banquet, appealing to all Serbs in New York and its environs to donate whatever was within their means so the roof project can continue. Postage alone for this mailing cost the church $900. Sadly, we report that out of the 1700 mailings, we received a mere 36 responses and, combined with 148 Christmas donors, a total of $25,000 was collected. From the 82 guests at the St. Sava Slava luncheon, $4,735 was raised. In the interim, $6,924 was donated between St. Sava Day to the middle of March 2004. In essence, the total amount raised from December 2003 to March 2004 was $35,862, a far cry from what is needed to continue work on the roof. The names of all donors for this period are listed in this newsletter. We apologize if any names were omitted and ask that you notify us of any omissions.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, it is with heavy heart that we inform you that what we had hoped would not happen has happened: The Restoration Project for the Preservation of St. Sava Cathedral has come to a Complete Stop! Only $80,000 remains in the Building Fund! Our mission is clear: we must raise another $1 million to finally complete the remaining 50% of the roof. You who are consistent contributors understand that we cannot and must not stop in the middle of a project. Yet, that is precisely where it has ended. We continue to seek financial assistance from outside of our community, but it is not forthcoming. It is clear, therefore, that we must look to ourselves and take full responsibility for this church. After all, this is OUR spiritual home, OUR Serbian center, OUR religious haven. Other groups from the former Yugoslavia, the Croatians and Muslims, are prospering. They do so because they have made serious commitments to their churches and mosques. Can we do less? Of course not. Otherwise, who are we? We have an infinitely longer history and are in much greater numbers. There are those who would revel in our failure. So, if we do not sustain and maintain our culture, we have no one to blame but ourselves if we fail. The power lies within each and every one of us. We have a glorious faith and an honorable history. With this heritage comes an enormous responsibility to past and future generations. The most tangible way to honor our legacy is to invest in our churches, proving through noble deeds that we are, indeed, proud to be Orthodox Serbs—that we value our ethnicity and ourselves. That, dear Friends, is our identity.
Speak to your friends and neighbors. Ask them to become part of this developing, exciting, and productive community of dedicated Serbs, whose goal is to restore the largest Serbian Orthodox church in the Diaspora. Tell them how it feels to be building an active Serbian community in the midst of a vast multicultural society. Involvement in church activities fulfills one’ s heart and soul. Yes, it IS our responsibility to solicit money for our church. Who will support St. Sava Cathedral except Serbs? That is the reason, dear Friends, we come to you for help—help for your Orthodox faith; help for your people; help for your family; help for yourself. At one time or another we all need our church, both in happy and sad times. Unless we help her survive, she will not be there when we need her. Wouldn’t that be a pity? Where would we go? History will record the investment in both effort and money New York Serbs had made toward the continued existence of their Serbian Orthodox center in New York City.
This is the season of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us join together in as many numbers as possible and with great determination resurrect to its full glory, beginning with the completion of the roof, this one and only Serbian church in New York City. Father Djokan states that “when we restore that which is most sacred and most dear, we restore ourselves.” So, my Brothers and Sisters, by restoring our church, we restore our souls.
St. Sava Cathedral will celebrate its 60th Anniversary this year. Let’s make this the best year ever. Let’s complete the church roof. If we don’t, who will?
Z. Milich, PhD. Chair. R&D