VISIONING COMMITTEE UPDATE

April 2025

As Graham/Baba Architects progress in their design work, the Visioning Committee is preparing for its next phase – a Capital Campaign.   After interviewing three firms, the Committee received approval from the Vestry to retain the services of Campbell & Company, a Seattle based Consulting firm, to assist the  Committee in setting strategy and refining communications. Campbell & Company know our valley well as they were involved with the Community Library Capital Campaign and are currently working with St Luke’s Wood River on their campaign. Preliminary work with Campbell begins this month.

We have also, with Vestry approval, contracted services for 6 months with Giving Insight,  a company specializing in data management. In order to run an effective campaign, we need to have current and accurate contact information. St Thomas desperately needs to update and coordinate its various data systems and consolidate them in one place.  Giving Insight will work with us to accomplish this as well as to develop report writing capability.  In addition to the Capital Campaign, this data integrity effort will help many aspects of St Thomas including Stewardship and St Thomas Playhouse. This work also begins this month.

As with the Graham/Baba contract, the cost of these contracts is being covered by donations and does not come out of the church budget.

Rebecca Waycott and Janet Schaumburg

Visioning Committee Co-Chairs

The Vision Committee was formed in spring of 2023 to oversee the collection of opportunities and ideas for the future of St. Thomas.  A main goal of the group was to try to reach as many members and interested parties at St. Thomas as possible.  

Beginning in June 2023, members of the Dream Committee held listening sessions open to all those affiliated with St. Thomas.  Three listening sessions were held during the Adult Education period – one each in June, July and August.   Individual sessions were also held with the choir, St. Thomas Playhouse, and the parents and director of Children & Youth.  Close to 100 individuals were reached in this way.  All of the listening sessions were very animated and positive, eliciting creative ideas and excitement about opportunities for the future of St. Thomas.  An online questionnaire was also available for any and all.  

After synthesizing all of the information collected, it became apparent that St. Thomas remains steadfast in its commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our community.  But, our campus is often literally bursting at the seams as our programs expand and attract more people.  Our greatest limiting factor is our space.  

The following projects were identified to help St. Thomas continue to take the Good News of Christ into our community in new and creative ways:

• GATHERING SPACES:  The most compelling vision for the future is to better serve both our growing congregation and the community at large by accommodating more people, having a space for community get-togethers and meals, a space for lectures and programs for adults and youth, expanded space for ST Playhouse programs and offering an attractive venue for wedding receptions and other community events.  

This vision could be achieved by:

      Building a beautiful parish hall that can accommodate all these activities.

Enlarging and modernizing the current kitchen into a commercial kitchen, thereby allowing for enhanced parish hospitality and outreach offerings.

• ROOM FOR THE ARTS:  Establish St. Thomas as a home for music and performance in the Wood River Valley, offering opportunities to all to both perform and attend.  Reconfiguration of existing spaces could provide more and better rehearsal space, storage areas and performance space.

• SACRED SPACE:  A space that is always available for contemplation, devotion, solace and peace for people of all faiths and those whose faith is known to God alone.  This space could also be used for small gatherings, including weddings, baptisms and funerals.

Highlights in 2024:

February – August of 2024

An Architecture Selection Committee was formed.  They created a Request for Proposal that was sent out to more than 20 architectural firms.  The finalists visited the site, and in August the firm Graham Baba out of Seattle, WA was hired.  They will help us through the next phases of our process and eventually come up with a schematic design to help us with the budgeting portion of the project.

May- August 2024.  A Site Survey and Topo were conducted.

October 2024:  Workshops with Graham Baba

– 2 days of Focus Groups.  All St. Thomas members were invited to participate, and a lot of great ideas were shared.  

– Zoom meeting held specifically focusing on Sustainability and building.   

October 2024: Structural, Landscape and Acoustics Site Visits by Consultants 

October 2024:  Laser Scan of Existing Building

October-November 2024:  Evaluation of Existing Conditions within the building

November 6, 2024:  Workshops Results Presentation by Graham Baba via Zoom

A Capital Campaign Committee has also been formed.  They are working on a Case for Support, a potential schedule for fundraising, and potential fund raising events.

The Inspired to Serve Committee is still in the information gathering phase and no final decisions have been made.  Once a schematic design has been created, contractors will be consulted to help us get an idea of what the budget would be of any projects.  

Do you have thoughts to submit online? Let us know below: