By Alexis Peters, Fundraising Committee Chair

Advent is one of my favorite seasons of the year - the anticipation of meeting our Lord in his most humble form at Christmas, the music, the colors. If you’re like me, you put more emphasis on meeting the Lord in extra prayer amidst the hustle and bustle of our everyday life. As a parish, we too are waiting in anticipation for the completion of the Restoring Beauty Project.

I have some amazing updates to provide. In recent weeks, generous donors have specifically funded the Calvary statue with a $30,000 donation, and both angel statues, costing $,000. To honor donor requests, we have secured the Calvary statue and it will be delivered to Seattle for touch-ups before making its way to Chewelah. The angels have to be specially made, so those have been commissioned.

Additionally, a new donor has come forward this week, graciously presenting St. Mary of the Rosary with $100,000 to cover the entirety of the stained glass window (commission to installation). I am so beautifully shocked and overjoyed by how God is moving in the hearts of those called to leave this type of an impact in our faith community.

We are now working with the stained glass designer to solidify our artwork for the “Our Lady” stained glass window. The first rendition is our free version, so now we can truly make Our Lady come to life with the help of skilled craftsmen.

A specific donation was received to purchase materials for the construction of the statue bases. Whit Baker has extensive experience in fine cabinetry construction and has generously donated his time to building the statue bases and other pieces including the free standing altar and the new ambo. I am beyond grateful for him generously donating his time and talents to this part of the project as well.

St. Mary’s Ladies Auxiliary Crystalline Luncheon had an amazing turn out of around 120 people, and these women came together to fellowship with each other and raised over $4,200! Our goal was to raise funds to cover statue restoration costs. With the already existing funds from past years, and another donor coming forward to pledge the remaining difference, we should be able to fully fund the statue restoration and are actively working on finishing them!

The wreath fundraiser announcements are still pending because we won't receive a final invoice until sometime in December, so those funds will be added to our numbers as well.

There has been an unbelievable amount of movement in our parish this last month! Fundraising kicked off on October 12 and, by November 21, we have already secured at least $283,000 in donations and pledges. These donations from parishioners, friends of the project, fundraising efforts, and the luncheon are a true testimony to people's belief in this project and the motivation behind it.

My prayer is that by next Advent, we will be able to see Phase 1 of our project completed, and the anticipation comes to a close. I pray continuously for the day we will be able to sit and enjoy the fruits of our labor, while we meet the Lord in the Eucharist in His Holy space.