| The Electricians Who Lite Up Your Life (and Church) |
According to Craig Carpenter and his assistants, the difficult portion of
the lighting project at Our Lady Of Peace is complete. The integrity of the
original light fixtures was maintained by retrofitting them with modern
lighting principles. Our church looks great, areas that were previously
dark are well lit, especially the dust and the need for the walls to be
painted and the wood paneling to be refinished! LOL There is very little
shadow present and no one will be able to catch a snooze while Father
Tom is giving his sermon, he WILL be seen!!!
This project was Craig's brain child, he had heard the people speak
about how dark our church was and how hard it was to read their song
books and the Sunday Missal and Craig began a 2 year quest to
improve the lighting. He started by improving how the lights are operated
by installing switching to control everything from the Sacristy. They knew
what they wanted to do with regard to the lights and did a lot of research.
A number of sales representatives stopped by the church to look over
the lighting and came back with ideas. Many did not respond, He
became frustrated with that situation and began talking to Dick Sherry
who came around and began working with me on this project. I had
mentioned to Dick that I had this dream of reworking the existing light
fixtures to provide the needed candlepower and evenness of lighting.
Dick went to bat for me and together we made decisions on how to
proceed. Dick was instrumental in dealing with the people who handle the
equipment we required. We came in far under budget with superior
lighting that will cut the cost of operation of the lights in half.
Craig thinks we need to draw from PRIDE in our Knights of
Columbus.The ground crew consisted of Craig Carpenter, Robert
Shanahan and Dick Sherry from our Knights and Dan Baker from the
Our Lady of Peace Holy Name Society. Bob and Craig worked some
40 hours assembling the parts and testing them prior to installation. Dick
spent countless hours on the phone talking to the manufacturers and
dealers to be sure we purchased the proper and best material for this
project. All of us worked 3 full days this past week, Bob, Dan and I spent
some extra time working out the bugs as Murphy's Law cropped up like
it does in any well planned effort. Tim Creenan, who is President of
the Our Lady of Peace Parish Council arranged for the 2 lifts we
needed to be able to access the fixtures and do the work needed and he
also provided us with the help of 2 of his men to do the high work for us.
Bob has been with me from the start as we rewired/installed outlets,
switches, the new outdoor sign and will continue to make improvements
as needed.
We still have to work on 8 more fixtures, all of them on the altar, the
materials did not arrive in time to get that done as well. We will do that
portion of the work as the parts arrive. Everything we have done has
supported the idea of cutting down on energy usage while at the same
time providing the church with superior use of the energy.
Craig is EXTREMELY PROUD of how well this job came together and
how nice our church looks with the new lighting. He is equally, if not
more proud, of how the volunteers came together to make this work at a
VERY low cost to the Parish. Payback in savings on utility bills is
estimated at 2 years. These gentlemen served the Lord, and our
parish, in the ways they best can, through their God given skills.
The top photo shows the entire corp of volunteers. Other photos show
the work in progress. Stop by and take a look, we think you will be
pleasantly surprised at how well the project turned out.
the lighting project at Our Lady Of Peace is complete. The integrity of the
original light fixtures was maintained by retrofitting them with modern
lighting principles. Our church looks great, areas that were previously
dark are well lit, especially the dust and the need for the walls to be
painted and the wood paneling to be refinished! LOL There is very little
shadow present and no one will be able to catch a snooze while Father
Tom is giving his sermon, he WILL be seen!!!
This project was Craig's brain child, he had heard the people speak
about how dark our church was and how hard it was to read their song
books and the Sunday Missal and Craig began a 2 year quest to
improve the lighting. He started by improving how the lights are operated
by installing switching to control everything from the Sacristy. They knew
what they wanted to do with regard to the lights and did a lot of research.
A number of sales representatives stopped by the church to look over
the lighting and came back with ideas. Many did not respond, He
became frustrated with that situation and began talking to Dick Sherry
who came around and began working with me on this project. I had
mentioned to Dick that I had this dream of reworking the existing light
fixtures to provide the needed candlepower and evenness of lighting.
Dick went to bat for me and together we made decisions on how to
proceed. Dick was instrumental in dealing with the people who handle the
equipment we required. We came in far under budget with superior
lighting that will cut the cost of operation of the lights in half.
Craig thinks we need to draw from PRIDE in our Knights of
Columbus.The ground crew consisted of Craig Carpenter, Robert
Shanahan and Dick Sherry from our Knights and Dan Baker from the
Our Lady of Peace Holy Name Society. Bob and Craig worked some
40 hours assembling the parts and testing them prior to installation. Dick
spent countless hours on the phone talking to the manufacturers and
dealers to be sure we purchased the proper and best material for this
project. All of us worked 3 full days this past week, Bob, Dan and I spent
some extra time working out the bugs as Murphy's Law cropped up like
it does in any well planned effort. Tim Creenan, who is President of
the Our Lady of Peace Parish Council arranged for the 2 lifts we
needed to be able to access the fixtures and do the work needed and he
also provided us with the help of 2 of his men to do the high work for us.
Bob has been with me from the start as we rewired/installed outlets,
switches, the new outdoor sign and will continue to make improvements
as needed.
We still have to work on 8 more fixtures, all of them on the altar, the
materials did not arrive in time to get that done as well. We will do that
portion of the work as the parts arrive. Everything we have done has
supported the idea of cutting down on energy usage while at the same
time providing the church with superior use of the energy.
Craig is EXTREMELY PROUD of how well this job came together and
how nice our church looks with the new lighting. He is equally, if not
more proud, of how the volunteers came together to make this work at a
VERY low cost to the Parish. Payback in savings on utility bills is
estimated at 2 years. These gentlemen served the Lord, and our
parish, in the ways they best can, through their God given skills.
The top photo shows the entire corp of volunteers. Other photos show
the work in progress. Stop by and take a look, we think you will be
pleasantly surprised at how well the project turned out.
| The Crew that did such a great job on the Church's electrical are shown (left to right) Timothy Creenan, Daniel Baker, Robert Shanahan, Craig Carpenter and Richard Sherry |