WAIMEA — People have been talking about an expansion at the Waimea United Church of Christ for the past 25 years, Jo Douglass said. And while it finally started Sunday with a groundbreaking, members will have to wait at least
WAIMEA — People have been talking about an expansion at the Waimea United Church of Christ for the past 25 years, Jo Douglass said.
And while it finally started Sunday with a groundbreaking, members will have to wait at least another month before work starts on the new lanai, offices, nursery and bell tower of Baird Hall at the church, more affectionately known as the Waimea Foreign Church.
Douglass, as one of the elder members of the church, was joined by Ellie Snyder, one of the youngest, in breaking ground for the expansion project which will be led by Mike Faye of Kikiaoloa Construction.
“The ground is busted,” said Pastor Olaf Hoeckmann-Percival. “But we still have to wait until Mike Faye’s crew becomes available, and in the meantime, we are decommissioning these trees which will have to be taken out to make room for the new facilities. We have palms from Niihau, and other plants, waiting to take place of these trees which have served us well.”
Faye said work will begin in about a month for the new 1,800-square-foot facility which will expand Baird Hall and bring it a step closer toward becoming a certified kitchen. The new facility will have a lanai, office spaces and a bell tower. The project should take about three months to complete.
“I don’t know if it’s possible, but during the construction, I’d like to use these ohia wood which was brought down in the 1850s to construct the church,” Faye said. “There is a lot of it stacked outside since Hurricane Iniki. That was more than 20 years ago, and the wood is still in fine shape. It would be nice to have these pieces incorporated into the construction of this new phase of the church.”
The groundbreaking ceremony utilized some of the pieces of ohia. The ceremonial digging stick that was manned by Douglass and Snyder was created out of a piece from the old loft. And the stanchions, one of which proudly displayed its old wooden fastening system, came from the stack of wood from the church.
Graceleanor Baird, whose late husband was Pastor Lyle, conducted the blessing of the ground by water.
“This hall was built with the church and community help in 1981,” Graceleanor said. “I had just gotten back from England, and I remember the soldiers from the Pacific Missile Range Facility coming here a lot to help with the building. The building is named after Pastor Lyle who passed in 2007.”
