This Page Updated

June 15th, 2008

Go to our “Upcoming Events” page to see what we have planned for 2008

We have added a “News Release” Page.  Please check this page for current Press Releases, or the “Archives” file for older releases.

Latest Changes

The decision was made NOT to move the old church temporarily and NOT to put a full basement under the church. The estimated cost of the phase ($237,000) kept us from making any progress on the restoration for several years, and we feel it's because it was OUR plan and NOT GOD'S plan to have a basement under the church. Consequently, as soon as the decision was made to abandon that plan, God opened numerous doors and the wheels of progress began to turn so fast it left us all breathless. Here's what was accomplished in 2007:

A replica of the original bell tower was constructed and lifted onto the church on September 5 with the original bell inside.

Damaged siding was removed from the east wall and replaced with new wooden boards that are duplicates of the original double Dutch lap boards.

New boards were then used to replace half of the boards on the north wall of the building, saving half of the original boards on that wall.

Wooden shutters were removed from all main floor windows and plastic sheeting was removed from the upper level windows.

New window frames were constructed and Lexan windows were installed in all windows.

A crawlspace was dug under the entire building; concrete flooring was poured, concrete footers were poured around the perimeter of the building and a permanent concrete wall foundation was poured around all but the west (front) wall.

The outer walls of the foundation were tarred and dirt was backfilled against them for the winter.

Funds were all but totally depleted to accomplish the above, but what an accomplishment!

We are currently asking supporters to "Give a Hand; Buy a Foot" to pay for the new foundation. One linear foot of foundation cost $120. To date, 17 feet have been purchased.

Another way supporters can help is to purchase a square foot of flooring for $20. To date, 21 square feet of the floor have been purchased.

Special gifts and memorial gifts given last year paid for the majority of the cost of the bell tower.

The next step in the restoration process, as soon as we receive enough funding, will be to paint the entire exterior white, as it was when it was a church in the early 1900's. Thre current white primed boards show varying shades of white, as not all boards were replaced, and the old boards soaked up the primer, leaving them looking faded next to the new primed boards.

The current biggest threat to the building itself is that the soffit and fascia need to be replaced and there are numerous boards missing from the roof. As there is no ceiling in the sanctuary, it is critical to have permanent roof in place. The current metal roof was a temporary measure taken in 2001 to prevent any further damage to the interior, but was not meant to last for more than five years. Weather, birds and bats continue to come in under the roof-line, endangering the interior and continuing to do damage to the interior walls.

Therefore, the next major phase of the restoration will be to repair the soffit and fascia around the roof-line, and remove the temporary metal roof and replace it with cedar shingles, as it had when it was a church from the late 1880's to the early 1900's. This will finally seal the building so that interior work can be done without danger of weather damage or destruction by animals.

We did not receive a matching grant from Save America's Treasurers for 20007, as we had hoped we would, However, we met the May 20, 2008 deadline for this year's SAT grant and are asking for a $166,000 matching grant to replace the roof and ceilings. Please pray that the SAT board will grant this new application.

The 2008 calendars, featuring our donors and volunteers, are still available and work has begun on the 2009 calendar, which will focus on the "before and after" pictures of the church and the garden, showing the progress we've made. If you have pictures you would like to be considered for the 2009 calendar, please send them to: ORC Foundation, PO Box 41, Niles, MI 49120 no later than June 30, 2008. Make sure you include your name as you would like it to appear by your picture, along with a written permission for us to use your photo in our calendar.

We are especially looking for OLD pictures of the church. We have yet to see a picture of the interior of the church, so search your attic or those boxes and albums of old pictures of your oldest relatives and see what you might find before someone throus them out, not realizing what they have.

We ask for a donation of $20 plus $2 for chipping our calendars. They contain beautiful pictures of The Old Rugged Cross Historic Site.

We are currently asking churches of all denominations to host an old-fashioned Hymn Sing in their church. It is an opportunity to invite other area churches, as well as the public, to your church to sing all of those old favorites. A member of the ORCF board would be present to give a brief update on the restoration efforts and take up a free-will "love offering" to benefit the restoration of the ORC Church. A pianist can be available if the host church can't provide one. Some churches have provided light refreshments (cookies and Punch) following the hymn-sing, but that isn't manadatory.

None at this time.

'Old Rugged Cross' site in Cass County now on Historic Register; The Herald Palladium. Monday, July 01, 2002