Grace Presbyterian Church in Jenkintown last week celebrated the grand opening of its Community Center at Grace and honored the completion of a $3.3 million renovation project.

“Our vision is for this center to be a heartbeat in the community,” Rev. Cassie Heintz, the church’s new Director of Community Engagement, told a gathering of about 100 people that included borough council members, denominational leaders, congregation members and outside partners involved in the project.

“Love is the basis of all change,” Sen. Art Haywood said.

Haywood was a key supporter of the church’s award of a $1.5 million state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant, funds that the 425-member church matched with $1.6 million capital campaign. State Reps. Napoleon Nelson and Ben Sanchez also supported the three-year project, which created a large Community Room and modernized three meeting rooms, two kitchens and a gymnasium- sized fellowship hall. It upgraded the building’s electrical grid, improved its HVAC system and increased access for people who are disabled.

Rev. Heintz said the new community center will be a place where art, music, and creativity are celebrated in workshops, exhibits, concerts and classes. It will be where people of all ages can gather and “where neighbors who might not otherwise meet find connection and belonging.

“We hope that every person who walks through these doors feels welcomed, inspired and reminded that they are part of something bigger than themselves,” she said.

Rev. Ruth Faith Santa-Santana Grace, Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, told the gathering that “this initiative demonstrates to the world outside these sacred walls that this church family stands in the midst of the community, as part of the community, not above it, not outside it – welcoming neighbors in all walks of life.”

During a soft launch this summer, the community center hosted a puppet camp for children and several art gallery installations. Emergency food supplies now fill shelves that line the Vista Road entrance to the center. Classes are scheduled for the fall in watercolor painting and mindfulness.

If you’d like to teach a class at the new Community Center at Grace or host an event there, contact the Rev. Cassie Heintz at cheintz@gracejenkintown.org

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Photo: GPC