Congregants of Trinity United Methodist Church, 832 E. Center St., Warsaw, are now able to have full access to all levels of the church regardless of their physical needs.
On Saturday, the church held an open house and dedication for their newly installed lift, as well as a newly remodeled handicapped-accessible bathroom and ramp.
When the congregation built the building in 1954, congregants were significantly younger. As the congregation has aged, needs have made it so it is not as easy to make it down the stairs to make use of the Fellowship Hall space, said Pastor Andrea Texeira.
“So they have been talking for years upon years about how to make the levels accessible. Finally, when I came in May of ‘22, (we) decided to put in a lift. It’s been an 18-month or so process, but we have finally completed the installation of the lift. We revamped a bathroom on the Fellowship Hall basement level, so it’s handicapped accessible and installed a new handicapped-accessible ramp on the south side of the building that is an appropriate grade,” she said.
Texeira said Trinity UMC has occurred no debt with the roughly $200,000 project.
“We did a fundraiser right after I came here, raised a portion that way. The church sold some property across the street to the city of Warsaw. Some endowments from the church. Just some conglomerations and things along the way. As we needed stuff, people just stepped up.”
The lift was installed in June 2023.
When asked why the church was having the open house and dedication now, Texeira said, “Because we have a lot of snow birds. We have a lot of snow birds and a lot of folks that were just not going to be able to participate. And the weather was kind of scary. We wanted to make sure the weather was good and people could come and take advantage of it. Now most of our weather birds are back and we have beautiful, albeit windy weather today.”
Texeira said about half of the congregations could possibly take advantage of the new lift. She said church usage isn’t limited to worship service, as they have groups like women’s groups that meet at the church on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Texeira said since the installation of the lift, she hopes the Fellowship Hall gets used more.
“We’re able to do dinners together again. We’ve had movie nights down (in the Fellowship Hall). We’re doing this (the open house). We have a reception here. We want full access to our sanctuary level and this basement level so we can do dinners and things, just big gatherings,” Texeira said.
Saturday, the church held snacks and a slideshow in the Fellowship Hall and the dedication on its main floor.