Harbor Light Assembly of God, located across Zimovia Highway from Alaska Housing, began renovations to its downstairs portion of the church earlier this month. The renovations are thanks, in part, to a $15,000 grant from the Rasmuson Foundation they received last October. Pastor Kem Haggard, with Harbor Light, said they received the Tier 1 grant from the foundation to help benefit the wider Wrangell community.
“They’re [the Rasmuson Foundation] basic thing is they really want to enhance communities,” said Haggard. “Several years ago, one of the things we talked about was we want to help out the community, we’re here to serve the community, and that’s been really our focus. So we got to looking at some of the different things, and some of the different organizations we’ve worked with.”
Besides offering services like weddings and funerals, Haggard said that Harbor Light has opened up its facility to many different organizations. Some of the groups he listed include the Boy Scouts, Alaska Crossings, SEARHC, different homeschool groups, AAU basketball teams, the Forest Service, and the ministerial association. They wanted to demonstrate to the Rasmuson Foundation that their church benefited more people than just members of the church. This was a question they received from the foundation, Haggard said, about how “free” their services were. The church opens its doors to everyone, he said, with no catches. Nobody has to be a church member or agree to attend a service to use Harbor Light’s building. He also said that in the last six months, the church had been in use 874 hours. Of that time, 624.5 hours were by outside organizations.
“One of my pet peeves from when I lived down south was you’d see these megachurches, any churches in particular, and they’ve got all this space and you’d see it filled maybe three times a week, and the rest of the time it sits empty,” Haggard said. “Why do you have that space if it’s just sitting empty?”
The church is looking to “spruce up” their downstairs area. They have several projects beginning to do so, under four general categories: Expansions, improvements, additions, and safety concerns. Some of the projects Haggard mentioned include adding railings to their handicap ramp, installing new lighting and carpeting, expanding the size of the downstairs area slightly, and getting a new ceiling. None of the grant money will be used to improve other areas of the church, such as the sanctuary. It is all for the downstairs facility and to help the community, he said.
He also mentioned that the $15,000 grant will not cover the entire cost of the renovations, but it helps. He mentioned that the church recently received two sizable donations, one from a man in Texas and another from a Wrangell resident. He said he has been hearing from some organizations Harbor Light has helped in the past wanting to chip in, as well.
“It’s been nice hearing from some of the organizations that have used our facility that have said they want to help out,” Haggard said. “For instance, Crossings has offered to come in and help us do some of the renovations.”
The Rasmuson Foundation is an Alaska organization seeking to make communities across the state better through grant programs and supporting nonprofits. In 2017, according to their website, they gave out $20.5 million in grants to groups across Alaska.
Reader Comments(0)