LIBERTY CHURCH GETS $25,000 GRANT

  A major restoration project for the total replacement of the roof at the Liberty United Methodist Church has received a $25,000 grant from the Sacred Sites Program of The New York Landmarks Conservancy. 

  Church Trustee Blake Muthig at a recent check presentation noted that the church applied for the grant in January of 2012 and that the two major requirements to qualify for this grant was that the church as to be located in a historic district and the work had to be classified as a restoration project. 

  Muthig said the entire roof replacement for the church and the Memorial Hall section of the church came in at a cost of over $65,000 and that the church had to match the $25,000 grant which they did through various fund raising dinners and functions. 

  The church is located in the historic district that includes the former Keller residence which is now the Liberty Town Hall and the former Sullivan County National Bank Building which is located directly next to the church Memorial Hall. 

  Trustee Muthig and Church Treasurer Barbara Siegel pointed out that the New York Landmarks Conservancy is part of the Robert W. Wilson Challenge Grant Program for major restoration projects in New York State.

  The Conservancy's award-winning Sacred Sites Program celebrated it's 25th anniversary in 2011 and is the oldest and largest statewide grant program

to specifically help landmark religions properties. It has helped morfe than 660 reliogious institutions of all denominations across New York State with $7.3 million in assistance.

  Administrators of the program acknowledged that their typical Wilson Challenge grant last year was $37,500 and this year the largest grant was two $75,000 pledges to the Rugged Cross Baptist Church in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn for the replacement of a severely deteriorated roof.

  Trustee Muthig acknowledged that the church was experiencing a roof with many leaks and Board of Trustees Chairman Tim Heisler supervised the replacement of the entire roof.   

  Presently the church is raising funds for the restoration of the bell-tower. 

                                                       

PHOTO IDENTIFICATION

Liberty United Methodist Church Treasurer Barbara Siegel. Trustee Blake Muthig and Pastor Bob Kersten display a copy of the $25,000 check the church received from the Robert W. Wilson Sacred Sites Program of 

The New York Landmarks Conservancy.