St. Stanislaus Church
Lots to Lose: Worship Spaces as Community Assets
Description: With tourism becoming increasingly popular, communities that have something unique to exhibit, like a historic house museum, district, cemetery or battlefield, have a competitive edge with neighboring communities. Local commerce through historic buildings keeps the community unique and supports the economic base of the community. Amongst these buildings, sit the historic churches that play a similar role in providing services to the community. As catastrophe response professionals, we have worked with many churches whose sole purpose during the recovery was to continue servicing the community and alleviating their needs during the devastation rather than repairing their own building. While religious building’s lies within a community, a community also lies within the building. Congregations create stability in the lives of its members. They are employers for members and create networking opportunities for others to locate work in the community. They also offer schooling and even some include day care services. If a church is lost from a community or has recovery efforts hampered following a disaster, what would the community lose? Feeding programs, education programs, places of gathering, and even employment. Historic sacred spaces offer a community a sense of place, community stability, and refuge in times of need.
