CONNECTICUT USA NEWS
For Volunteers, Four Days To Raise A Kingdom Hall
Hartford Courant, United States - 10 minutes ago
... About 200 volunteers started the four-day "quick build" Thursday morning of a Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall near Crystal Lake, and a building took form by ...
For Volunteers, Four Days To Raise A Kingdom Hall
May 19, 2006
By STEPHANIE SUMMERS , Courant Staff Writer
| STAFFORD -- There was no Harrison Ford and no Kelly McGillis, but the scene was reminiscent of the barn-raising in the film "Witness." About 200 volunteers started the four-day "quick build" Thursday morning of a Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall near Crystal Lake, and a building took form by afternoon. As many as 500 Witnesses will come to the site on the weekend |
Skilled construction professionals and other volunteers from Connecticut and Rhode Island joined the effort, which has been a common format for building the halls, said George Chappell, chairman of the Stafford Springs Body of Elders. Stafford has been waiting for one since 1991, meeting at the Vernon hall in the meantime.
In the past five years, 633 Kingdom Halls have been built this way nationwide, and 1,193 have been renovated.
"People drive by on the way to work and they come back at the end of the day and do a double take," said Brian Edwards, chairman of the regional building committee that oversees "builds" in eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. Connecticut just split into two regions in March, and Edwards, of Tolland, heads the new one.
They build fast to minimize the disruption in the community, the congregation and among volunteer families.
On this bright, sunny day after what seemed like 40 days of rain, volunteers in tool belts and hard hats moved efficiently through the site with something akin to joy.
"We try to practice the fruitage of God's spirit," said Edwards, a retired developer. Those principles include love, peace, long suffering, patience, mildness and joy.
"It's unusual in our business to see that being practiced," he said.
True. How many normal construction site workers take a break in the morning to consider the biblical text of the day: 1 Corinthians 12:6? "What good would a hand be without the rest of the body?" This is followed by safety reminders and a blessing.
Safety is of primary importance on these sites, because the number of workers and speed of building makes it so, Chappell said.
And the efficiency is impressive. Everyone has a role. When the framers leave, the roofers come in. Parking is remote, and workers are shuttled to the site. Out-of-towners stay in the homes of local Witnesses or, if they prefer, are booked into local motels. An estimated 5,000 meals will be prepared and served through Sunday.
"Hot stuff," cooks yell as they carry food from trailer to tent. "At 6:30 [a.m.] nobody was here and I just said it out of habit," volunteer Larry Tripoli said.
Sixty departments cover everything from soffits to traffic control. Materials are organized and marked. A large, central tent houses food and stations that range from "Volunteer Service" to "Lost and Found."
Friends who have been at other builds - and most have at least one under their tool belts - greet each other as "brother" or "sister."
Husbands and wives do their part, and some, such as Brook and Jonathan Creamer of Warwick, R.I., work together.
"I used to do electrical," Brook said. "My husband and I thought we'd try roofing this time."
Everyone but a reporter and the crane operator are brothers and sisters.
"I've never seen anything like it," crane operator Frank Keene of East Hartford said. Except for the time a few years ago he ran the crane on the site of the triple-sized Kingdom Hall in Bloomfield. In the last five years, halls have been built in Willimantic, Enfield, Norwalk, Hartford, Trumbull, Winsted, Stratford and Preston.
The Stafford building, Design No. 2, will be 4,200 square feet with a 150-seat auditorium and two auxiliary rooms. A decorator supplies several packages for internal and external design schemes, and the local building committee chooses, chairman Wayne Wright said. The exterior will be brick with maroon windows and doors, gray shingles and ivory trim. The building, which will be formally dedicated in September, will serve 100-plus members.
The Jehovah's Witnesses claim 6.6 million members around the globe - and by that they mean active members, who visit homes armed with Watchtowers to spread the news of God's kingdom.They hold several meetings a week to study and discuss the Bible. And they do training for "theocratic ministry," the art of preaching the word, door to door.
"People think we're all outgoing, but most of us are not," said Lyn Chappell, a sister in the Stafford Springs congregation and George's wife. "It's a very difficult thing to do - we regard it as an act of faith."
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