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Four sanctuaries on Long Island win thousands in restoration grants
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Four sanctuaries on Long Island win thousands in restoration grants

Four sacred historic sites on Long Island have won grants totaling nearly $50,000 to help repair, restore and preserve churches more than a century old, officials said.

The donations were awarded to congregations in Bay Shore, Amityville, Bellport and Huntington by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, a private nonprofit organization. They were among 16 grants totaling $321,000 awarded to 15 historic religious properties in the state.

Locations on Long Island Bay Shore United Methodist Church, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Bellport United Methodist Church, and Ketewamoke DAR Hall in Huntington, formerly the First Universalist Church.

The church in Bay Shore will receive $16,000 for restoration of a tower, while the church in Amityville will receive $15,000 to help replace cedar shingles at the complex. The Bellport church will receive $14,000 for the restoration of a bell tower, as well as project management costs.

Ketewamoke DAR Hall in Huntington will receive $4,000 to help pay for foundation, roof drainage and carpentry repairs, as well as wall remodeling.

Some of the conservation funding comes from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, the group said.

“Our donations support the preservation of these landmarks, which are important anchors for their members and communities,” Peg Breen, president of the conservancy, said in a statement. “These 15 congregations reach approximately 140,000 people in their communities with programs addressing food insecurity, addiction and social isolation and serve as venues for major arts and cultural events.”

Houses of worship must fill out an application form to apply for grants.

The conservancy said the Bay Shore United Methodist Church “features a Queen Anne-style auditorium-plan church that was revitalized in 1893 in the Romanesque style.” In addition to its regular membership, the church helps about 3,000 people through activities such as a weekly soup kitchen, two AA and NA groups, a Head Start program, a thrift store and Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, Preservation said.

Pastor Daehyun (Daniel) Park said that the church’s tower was damaged in the storm and the donation will help repair the tower.

“We prayed for donations and thank God” they received the money, Park said. “We are very grateful. “This is a great opportunity.”

In Amityville, the donation helped pay for the replacement of aging cedar shingles in the church complex, said longtime rector Father Randolph Jon Geminder.

He said the grant, which will cover about one-tenth of the cost of the project, “was a huge help, so we’re very grateful.”

“The shingles were actually protecting the building and they were curling and pulling apart. They were very old,” he added. “It was necessary to preserve the infrastructure of the building, but also restore it to the way it looked when they finally finished the building in 1888.”

He said the church is “the cornerstone of the historic district of the village of Amityville.”

The congregation helps about 1,700 people, in addition to its own members, through activities such as the Amityville Women’s Club, Al-Anon, concerts and rehearsals for bands, the annual fish fry and guild teas, the conservancy said.

Bellport United Methodist Church “was founded in 1850 and has been in its current building since 1945,” the preservation said. “The Greek Revival, wood-framed, gable-ended ‘meeting house’ style church is an excellent, well-preserved mid-19th-century example of wood-framed churches found on Long Island.”

This church is home to a preschool, a thrift store, 12-step meetings, Boy Scout troopers, dance and music classes and a quilting group, the preserve said.

The hall in Huntington was built in 1837 as the First Universalist Society, the group said. The Ketewamoke Daughters of the American Revolution have used the building as a Sisterhood since 1914. The building is used for activities such as food drives, collections for the USMC Toys for Tots program, school supply collections, a book drive, and a scholarship program. .